Changes
by IAmLurker
Summary: AU: Rachel was fed up and decide to leave Glee and the States. She moved to one of the boarding school in Europe and found herself enjoying a simple life abroad that she never imagine.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Glee this all belong to wondrous Ryan Murphy and Fox Network. Just doing this for fun and trying to ease my boredom.

**Author's Note: **This is the first time that I ever write a fanfic, so guys please do bear with me. All original characters is on me, if you guys found similarity on any characters in other stories, rest assured I do not have any intention of replicating it. I do not know the rules of using a real school name but it looks fun so I used it anyway; again I do not have any bad intention using TASIS or any school that is really existing. Big shout out to my proofreader/beta reader **JOHN KNIGHTHAWK** you make my writing easier**.**

**Chapter 1**

Rachel is in her bedroom making a final inspection if all her bags are already packed. She looked up at her night stand watch and saw it was 2 p.m. already. In about an hour Glee practice will commence. It's not surprising anymore; everyone hates her, her boyfriend Jesse if she can still consider him as a boyfriend does not exist in her world anymore. It's been a couple months since the fatal music video happened, and she already said sorry to the three guys but it seemed it wasn't enough though. Although Finn went with her and she went to the clinic to have her throat check up but he did not do it as a friend, he just came with her to make sure that Rachel could sing at Regionals. It was the last straw, her own Glee Club mates are talking behind her back everyday and even though she was trained to hold her head high no matter what there's only so much that she can bear. That very day she went home crying for like a millionth time already, she looses her self-confidence in a manner that no one even acknowledges her presence, she was only noticed when she sang and it's killing her, but she never shows any of it, she's strong and strong people succeed. She still remembered the faithful event that happened one month ago that changed her life entirely, and she realized that she will never have her full potential if the people surrounding her in Glee Club will not support her. She may be abrasive and brutally honest but she has a good heart, she tried to be friends with them but they never seem to acknowledge her effort until she got tired of it.

_**One month earlier**_

"If it weren't for her talent she shouldn't be in Glee Club any more, damn her talent and abrasiveness" Kurt says sardonically.

"I'm with you girl, she needs to learn her lesson that she's not the only person in Glee that could sing" Mercedes added, but felt guilty on the last part because she knows that Rachel admired her voice too, but shut it off because she knows that Rachel doesn't have any friends to defend her in this Club and in some ways she felt sorry for her.

"What if we talk to Mr. Schue and tell him that Rachel needs to learn her lesson about team work" Tina says.

"But for what? I mean Rachel didn't do anything wrong; it's just that her personality is terrifying sometimes but she never hurt anyone, even you, and I-mean Rachel knows what team work is. Sectionals guys, if it weren't for her we didn't even have a chance of winning it" Artie says expectantly.

"Well, Artie I didn't know you are Rachel's friend" Quinn says mockingly.

"We should be friends right, because we are in one team" he says defensively.

"She hurts a lot of people, I mean she hurt Finn, Jesse and Puck with that disgusting video" Quinn recoiled.

"You hurt them also, right?" Tina snapped back at her, she felt the need to protect Rachel, it's just that she was afraid of being outcast, being friends with the fiery diva.

"Whoa amazing, both of you are really a friend of Rachel's then, do you tell her everything we talked about?" Mercedes asks accusingly.

"Mercedes, I think it will be fun telling Rachel all the things that we are discussing behind her back, I mean especially geez the way she dresses up, that is just hideous if I am her friend I will bring her to a shopping mall and orient her how to dress normally" Kurt looked at everyone while the rest of his team mates are giggling on what he just said. "Honestly though, if she didn't have that voice she shouldn't be in this club" Kurt says frustratingly.

Little did they know, Rachel is just behind the door of the music room and heard everything, she tried to compose herself and went inside as if nothing happened, and she is a great actress and she can pull this off for only two hours. She has the whole night to cry, she will worry about it later once she's home and her fathers will be there.

The brunette makes sure that she has a huge smile for everyone when she enters the room and sat near Finn's chair and looked at those people who just ridiculed her and smiled more sweetly. She noticed the uneasiness of her "friends"; they can't even look directly in her eyes which is very annoying.

"Hey guys" Mr. Schue greeted his students.

Everyone answered except for Rachel, who's pretty much on trance.

"Okay, I have music for you guys. I need someone to audition for the Phantom of The Opera. It should be a partner, whoever wants to audition just come up front." The teacher explains.

Everyone expects Rachel to be at the front but the girl never moves in her chair, but continues to scribble in her notepad. She knows that everyone is eyeing her every action but she couldn't care less anymore, she will not audition for that piece because she's decided to leave WMHS. She can't grow with these kinds of people surrounding her as it's very annoying. She's been thinking about leaving the school for quite a while now. If she wants to be successful in her future she will start now; taking risk is something that everyone should do. She snaps back at reality when her name is being called by Mr. Schuester.

"Rachel is there something wrong?" her teacher asks worriedly.

"No, everything is fine Mr. Schuester" she said dryly.

"You don't want to audition for this piece?"

"Nope, anyone can sing that song" she said as a matter of fact.

If Rachel could just look at everyone, she will see that her fellow glee clubbers flabbergasted expressions, but she never paid any attention, she's tired of pretending, she's tired of being strong. For once she wants to be herself, but she can't now.

"Okay, so we have Tina and Artie, Mercedes and Finn, Quinn and Jesse, practice your pieces and you will perform them at the end of this week. That will be all for today" Mr. Schue added.

Rachel got up from her seat and was about to leave the room before anyone else when she heard her name being called.

"Rachel, can you stay for a while" Mr. Schuester requested her.

Before she answered, she looked at everyone and she's sure that no one really cares for her, she went back to her seat and waited until everyone is out of the room.

"Is there something wrong?" Mr. Schue asks her.

"Nothing is wrong, if you are thinking about why I did not participate for the audition, I just don't feel like performing. Anyone can nail that song as it's very easy and besides you will teach them the technicalities of it" she said tiredly.

"Rachel, I know there is something bothering you and I want you to know if you need someone to talk to, I'm just here."

"Well, I'm aware of that, but really don't mind me as it really doesn't matter anymore, at least starting from now. Goodbye Mr. Schuester" Rachel said while getting up from her seat.

At home, she did a lot of thinking about what she's going to do, it's not even healthy anymore she's getting tired of being scrutinized and being a laughing stock by everyone. When she was little all she could think about was to perform on stage and become a famous Broadway star but at this early stage she felt defeated, her motivation is going thin already and for the first time she doesn't know what to do. She looked at her reflection, she looked exhausted her eyes don't sparkle anymore, she tried to smile but her eyes are not following her, she wanted to cry her heart out but it seems that her tear glands are not sympathizing with her.

"I need to leave" she said to herself, that's the only thing that she can think of, nothing more. But where's it going to be? Where she should go? With that question hanging in her head she sat down in front of her computer and start searching the best high school that has an outstanding credibility in arts and music. It took her almost two hours before she settled in one school that pretty much interests her, The American School in Switzerland (TASIS). The only problem is to convince her fathers to send her there, money shouldn't be a problem because they are extremely rich, her fathers are not business kind of people but they have a lot of investment and besides her grandparents in her Daddy's side left her with an enormous amount of money that she doesn't know where to spend and it's been in the bank all her life.

The problem would be if she can be away from her two fathers, she can't ask them to relocate to the other side of the world, which would be selfish on her part. Her daddy Lucas is a prominent Taxation Lawyer in Ohio but remains very private while her other dad Matthew is a world renowned neonatal surgeon. Of course half of the population of Lima Ohio wouldn't care about that because they are living in "sin" like a lot of people said. But she gets tired of it and couldn't care less at all, she's very much proud of having a father like them.

"Honey, are you here?" she heard her daddy calling from downstairs.

"Yup, up here in my room, daddy" she said back, she heard footsteps ascending to her door.

"Are you okay?"

She looks at him before answering the question, "Just tired".

Lucas felt that there was something wrong with his daughter. As he walked to her bed and gave her a tight hug, he felt Rachel's body shiver to the contact and she began sobbing until his daughter's cry is uncontrollable anymore. He hugs her even more and tries to soothe the wounded girl. He heard some footsteps ascend from the doorway and looked at his husband worriedly. Matthew went to the other side of his daughter and took her from his husband's tight grip.

"Honey, you want to talk about it?" Lucas said.

"I'm just tired, I can't put up a straight face anymore" she said in between sobs.

"Oh baby, things will get better sooner or later" Matthew assure her.

While looking with worry at their daughter, Matthew and Lucas glanced at each other and tried to give each other a smile of assurance but they knew that it will be hard because since the day their daughter started in high school it was so hard for both of them hearing Rachel's cries almost every night. Rachel never said a word, she never complained, she just cried and the next morning it seemed the girl didn't cry herself to sleep. As a parent there is only so much that they can tolerate, they are hopeful that something will pan out especially when she joined Glee, but it got worse. They perfectly know that their daughter is abrasive and very much outspoken only because they raised her like that. They raised Rachel to be honest, humble and forgiving. They never heard Rachel telling them that she hates her fellow Glee Clubbers, she has utmost respect for everyone, but everyone hated her. Lucas stood up and looked at his daughter's computer and saw a web site of the school that Rachel had been looking at a few moments ago. Lucas looked at his husband and motioned what he saw and they have an outspoken agreement that can be discussed later on if things will still not pan out for their daughter.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

For the first time in her high school life Rachel drove her own car, not really a fan of driving but she wanted to get out and her fathers were too busy to drive her. She pulled into the vacant parking space in front of school and gathered her things from the passenger side before she got out of the car. Rachel is not even surprised when a lot of eyes look at her, first because instead of wearing her usual clothes for school, she's wearing low waist denim jeans, white t-shirt and doll shoes and second she's driving a Shelby Cobra. It was a birthday gift from her cousin for her 16th Birthday, her fathers are right; things will get better sooner or later. A week after her emotional breakdown, her fathers talked to her about school and they discussed the possibility of transferring her to the school of her choice and she couldn't be more grateful on the outcome of their discussion. Her fathers already arranged everything that she needed; they will be traveling to Switzerland tomorrow to visit the school, they will be staying there for two weeks. One more month, and she's out of this school, she's not really happy but this matter should be decided upon.

As she walked to her locker, the brunette still felt the gaze of her schoolmates as if she had something on her face, but she doesn't care anymore, soon enough she will be gone from this school. When she reached her locker she started putting her things inside so that when school finishes she will just put everything into her spare bag and leave. Before she even closed her locker she looked at the picture fixed inside and smiled unconsciously, it was the Glee picture for their yearbook. Rachel looked at everyone, it seems that they all got along. She hoped it was true but well things can't always be the way we want it to happen, there's always more to it than meets the eye.

Upon reaching lunch the brunette had already made 'to do' lists on what things she needed for her new school, as she had made an extensive research about the school and the country. Currently she has five electives of course that's music, drama class, foreign language (Portuguese and French) and Lacrosse. She doesn't even know that she was smiling just thinking alone about lacrosse, can't even imagine herself playing the game but she is willing to learn whatever it takes, though she's not really a fan of sports but she wanted to do something new. For the last week she has managed to be herself in front of the Glee Club and during lunch time it is no different. Once she got her meal on her tray, she walked towards her fellow Glee Club table.

"Hey everyone" She greeted with her famous smile.

"What's going on?" Kurt's looked at her as if she had done something horrible.

"As much as I want to answer your question Kurt, I don't have any idea what you are talking about" she said honestly and sat beside Tina.

"Your clothes, is it the end of the world? Why are you wearing clothes like a normal person can wear?"

"I'm slightly offended with that statement, simply because I'm not in the mood to dress up" she rolled her eyes.

"So every time you wear the hideous attire you were in the mood to dress up then?" Mercedes asks while eating her cucumber.

"I hope and pray that you should not be in the mood to dress up so you can look like a normal person who knows how to wear her clothes." Kurt said with sarcasm and looked at Mercedes and they did their hand and hair things greeting.

Rachel is already building up a rage inside but tried not to show any of it and pretend that it's not even affecting her. The Captain of Glee Club glances to Tina and Artie and they gave her a weak smile. Clearly this week she's running out of words from her wide vocabulary and to her surprise she doesn't feel bad at all. She looked at their school cafeteria and tried to feel if she can miss it or not, and she feels nothing. She saw Quinn and Puck heading in their direction with Finn, Santana and Brittany in tow.

"Who owns the Shelby Cobra outside?" Puck asked without even greeting everyone else and sat beside Mercedes. Quinn sat beside Artie, Finn, Santana and Brittany sat beside Kurt.

"What do you mean?" Kurt asks curiously.

"Karofsky and his minions were talking about a certain car and said that the owner is one of the Glee Club members. Well, Puck is so freaking interested to see what car are they talking about and it was a classic Shelby Cobra that cost a fortune, so whoever owns that piece of metal is a really big fish" Quinn explained to everyone.

"So, who owns that car?" Puck asked again and looked at Kurt since his dad is in the auto shop business it's not surprising for him to own that piece of metal.

"Not me, I like cars but I love my baby" Kurt pertaining to his Hummer.

Everyone looked at each other waiting for anyone to answer until they focused on one person who's pretty much zoned out from all of them.

"Uh-no not her, stubbles owns that car? I'll be dammed." Santana said hysterically.

"She has two gay dads" Brittany said unconsciously.

"Yeah man hands has two gay dads so probably one of the "clients" of her father gave it to him and…."

"Guys, I'm right here do not talk about my fathers like that!" Rachel snapped but cut Quinn off. She looked at Finn who had remained silent all through out but looked at her about to say something but pursed his lips instead.

"Do you want to add something Finn?" Rachel dares Finn.

Finn just gives Rachel a silly smile.

"I thought so, continue to talk among yourselves who owns that Shelby car thing to satisfy your craving in gossip but do resume once I get out of this cafeteria" she said while getting up from her chair.

Before she continued to walk towards the exit she looked at everyone "and for the record, you guys don't have any idea who Rachel Berry is. What you saw is who I am in school, you never tried to know me, how would you know if I could afford that car or not. See you all in practice" she finally said while turning her heels towards the door.

The group of people she left behind looked stunned on what just happened and start speculating what had gotten for Rachel to snap like that. They knew her as very confident and brutally honest but never snapped back in any insult that they gave the brunette.

"I guess Rachel is right" Tina said shyly.

"If she can afford that car or not, it's not our business anymore if I may say" Artie says indignantly. He hated the fact that they always scrutinized Rachel, even though Berry has a very terrifying personality she was kind hearted in her own way and he believed his fellow Glee Clubbers were trying to ignore that fact.

"Artie and Tina are right, she may be an abrasive sort but insulting her like what you just did is really out of hand" Finn got up and tried to look for Rachel.

Once again they remained silent for a few moments until the bell rang, signaling the lunch is over.

Rachel was inside the girl's bathroom trying to cool herself down. She never felt rage in her whole life, this afternoon was the last straw. No one has the right to judge her fathers, no one. She felt sorry for Quinn but she never gave her the chance to be a friend, she had already been called by the blonde many names and she's gotten used to it already, it not being new anymore. She's about to leave the room when a certain blonde went inside, she looked at her with animosity, she's very much grateful having very expressive eyes. She can feel the blonde shiver thru her gaze, but it doesn't matter anymore since freshman year Quinn had been torturing her making her high school life miserable, she just felt sorry for her since she was kicked out by her own family.

Quinn felt terrified by Rachel's gaze, she never saw the brunette with utmost hostility in her eyes like they are on fire and she's not ready to see her like that, she was caught off guard, she tried to compose herself and regain her confidence.

"What's the matter RuPaul, something's wrong?" she said coldly. To her surprise Rachel looked more intently at her and Quinn saw her eye's expression change from hostility to pity and before she can say another word Rachel is gone. Quinn felt disgusted about her behavior. That's the only thing she has now, after she slid to the bottom of the social ladder and no one even bothered to notice her existence. The only thing real for her right now is every time she called Rachel names she felt superior over the brunette, considering Rachel had done nothing wrong to her. There are times that she wanted to be nice but she's terrified of rejection, it's easy to be a bitch she decided. She always loved Rachel's voice. Sometimes she's dreaming that she was being lulled to sleep by that voice, she knew it would be impossible since they are not even friends, maybe someday when she has the guts to let go of her pride.

Rachel was late for five minutes in her Spanish class, Mr. Schuester looked at her and said "Something's wrong Rachel?"

"Nothing is wrong Mr. Schuester" she answers while taking her usual spot behind Quinn.

For the rest of the 45 minutes she tried to listen on what is being discussed by their teacher; not that she needs to pass Spanish it's just the proper thing to do if someone is speaking in front, everyone should listen.

On her way to Glee practice it was a pretty much dreadful long day, Rachel not even sure if she felt surprised that no one had slushied her today; well at least up to this moment she's still wearing the same clothes that she wore that morning. When she arrived at the music room everyone was already there and once she walked in, here comes again the whispering on why she was late.

"Rachel, is there something wrong? I've noticed that you are always late nowadays, you've never been late before" their director asks curiously.

Before Rachel could answer she heard Santana speak in her native language _"¿qué más es el problema con su Señor Shuester? sensación apesadumbrado para se y el grito misma hacia fuera dentro de la parada en cuarto de baño de las muchachas"_

She stood up and looked at Santana and tried not to scowl at her team mate and said _"¿Señor Schuester, me intentando no a la sensación están molestando cada vez que oí que las preguntas repetidores, por qué es todos que piensa que algo es el mal conmigo? ¿A me no se permite tener un pequeño cambio en mi horario?" _

To everyone's surprise, especially Santana and Mr. Schuester they look at Rachel in unison since they had never heard her say anything in Spanish before.

"Is there something wrong Mr. Schuester? You're my Spanish teacher, you should be proud that I can even speak the language fluently it's not something that you can be surprised with" she looked at everyone before she continued "it's very pathetic though that I am the laughing stock of this group as well as their daily gossip news. I might be very popular to everyone then because you guys are waiting each day to see me just to bash me out, it's rather strenuous and immature. If you guys just don't like me, don't pay attention to what I am doing, if my choice of actions and the way I speak irritate you to death then ignore me, I'm used to being ignored guys, all my life I tried to fit in, but I guess some people really have a narrow mind. I can't change who I am just to gain friends, accepting one another whether you have a pitiable or petrifying personality, you accept that person no matter what because that's what you call friendship. Genuine Friends tell you the truth, they do not sneak behind your back, they will tell you that you made a mistake not to tear you apart but to acknowledge that we are just human and we make mistakes and we learn from them and we move on. Friends mean picking yourself up if you're down and pushing you forward and never leave your back because when you fall down again you're quite sure from the core of your being that you have someone to catch you no matter how horrendous you are. That's what you call friendship"

Once again she looked at everyone and no one dared look at her, she looked at Mr. Schuester and he just looked down because she's so sure that everything that she said went directly to their hearts. She looked at Quinn and saw that she's about to cry but trying her best not to sob. When everyone is silent she decided to come clean at least she owes these people, she still wanted to be a part of Regionals but it will be impossible now.

"This will be my last day in Glee; this is not like before just to spite Mr. Schuester this is for real, like you always said I am replaceable" from that statement everyone is looking at her again "It will save you from fighting over who's right and wrong on your speculation, it will also gave you room to have more solos Mercedes and Kurt, you should be happy now, It will also save you from your misery seeing me everyday. My priorities changed, if all the people that I will meet in the future if ever I will be on Broadway were like you, I'd rather not fulfill that dream because that will not be healthy in my emotional and mental aspect of my life. I wish you'll do good in Regionals and goodbye" with that Rachel turned her heels and left the music room without turning her head to see the impact that she made to her team mates. Rachel went directly to her locker and put her stuff in the spare bag and left the school building towards her car, before she even got inside her car, she paid one more look at school that became her life for two years. When she was satisfied she placed her stuff in the trunk then went immediately to the driver's seat and left McKinley High School for good.

Quinn looked devastated while watching Rachel leave the school, she followed Rachel when she left the music room to everyone's surprise, she had the feeling that it would be the last time that she will ever see her. With a heavy heart she went back inside and received the questioning look from her friends, now she's not sure if she can call these people friends. Rachel's litany earlier was like an arrow had collided in her heart and it was painful, she can't even describe how painful it was.

"She left, and for what it's worth she owns that Shelby Cobra" she said, while colliding on the chair that the former Glee Captain inhabited.

Quinn heard her friends whispering but she couldn't focus anymore she felt dizzy and before she knows it she collapsed on the floor, the last voice that she heard was Mr. Schuester saying "Call 911".


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Hey guys, I added 3 more chapters today. I will not be able to update until first of week of June, please bear with me. And again big love to my beta/proofreader John Knighthawk for helping me out and also big shout out to KennyJGray for your recommendation. Big thanks to those people who reads it;)

**Chapter 3**

**Present Time**

"Hey guys, how was your weekend?" Mr. Schue asked the Glee kids.

The Glee kids greeted Mr. Schuster in unison and started sharing what happened during their weekend. A month after the last time they saw Rachel, no one in the group asked about anything, they never discussed the issue as if nothing happened. William Schuester felt disappointed in his student's behavior as well as the departure of Rachel Berry. Some of them believed that Rachel would be back the next day but she was not, all of them have a non spoken agreement about waiting for Rachel to walk thru the music room but she never did, days turned to weeks and weeks turned to a month. It's been one month already and still they don't have news about Rachel.

"Four weeks from now we will be competing against the best Glee Club in Regionals, I want everyone to stay focused on your rehearsals, guys there is no room for mistakes here so…."

"Mr. Schuester, Good Day everyone" Mr. Figgins interjected to William.

"Mr. Figgins, to what do I honor this visit to our rehearsal?" Schuester ask the WMHS Principal.

"It's concerning Rachel Berry" Mr. Figgins started.

It seems that everyone wanted to know what happened to Rachel Berry, that's why for the first time they are listening intently to the Indian principal.

"She already left the school for good, I am aware that she has not attended the school for the last four weeks. Her fathers paid me a visit this morning and formally informed me that their daughter is already settled in her new school. I know you don't care where Rachel Berry is but I think you owe her. There would be no winning Sectionals without her, you can't even win the competition now that she's really gone; I hope you can still win Regionals. I know exactly what's going on in this Club and how you treated Rachel Berry for that matter but it's not my business to interfere in your personal relationships. Just make sure you can take home the Regional trophy so that your little Club will not be shut down." The principal explained to everyone.

"Mr. Figgins, would you know which school she transferred to?" it was Quinn who asked the question, she couldn't care less when she felt the gaze of her friends; she wanted to know where Rachel was. It's been a month since that last time she saw her and she missed the voice of the annoying diva terribly, she couldn't name what kind of emotion she felt but one thing that she's sure of is she terribly missed the brunette.

"She's in one of the boarding schools in Europe, I was surprised myself when I found that out" Mr. Figgins said excitedly. Once again everyone was shocked hearing the news.

"Well, I guess this is the time, one of her dads named Lucas Berry is a very prominent Taxation Lawyer in the states. He has his own firm based in New York but he only gets there if there's an important matter to deal with. Currently he is the Director of IRS in Ohio, while her other dad Matthew is a world renowned Neonatal Surgeon, he is on call in different hospitals in the US if needed. Rachel's parents can provide everything that she wants; she was born in New York and her dads decided to have a low key life that's why they moved here. Her family has their own house in New York and Los Angeles. Not only that, Rachel's grandparents on both sides came from an old money family, her grandparents on Lucas' side left her an enormous amount of money when they passed away a couple of years ago which will make her living comfortably for a very long time, if she decides not to work. The Shelby Car that we are discussing before, it was a gift from her older cousin who happens to be a professional racer." for the first time Mike Chang broke his silence.

Everyone was astounded by what Mike Chang said, even Mr. Schuester and Figgins. Nobody really tried to ask something with that new information, but they can't do anything anymore. Rachel Berry will not be back.

"How do you know all this?" Santana asks sardonically.

"My mom is a friend of Dr. Berry" Mike Chang confesses. A few more ohs and ahs were audibly heard from the group. When Mr. Figgins left the music room, Quinn felt she's going to explode. Before their director can even say anything she excused herself from everyone and ran outside the school.

"All right guys, we can't do anything about this anymore; she decided already and we have to accept that, let's do some practice" Mr. Schue announced.

Quinn walked straight to her car and fled from the school, she knew exactly what to do. She's been meaning to go to Rachel's house for a long time but Quinn didn't have the strength to get out of her car. For the last two weeks since she got Rachel's address from Puck she always drove on the same road then stopped near the Berry's house and then left. But now she needed to do this, she wanted to apologize profusely on her behavior towards the girl. There are a lot of things running through her head, she's not even sure if the Berry's are still there or already left but she kept her fingers crossed.

She pulled over in the driveway, got out of her car and practically ran to the Berry's door. She composed herself before she pressed the doorbell. She waited for a few seconds and to her relief she heard someone say "I'll get it"; she doesn't even need to look who's behind the door.

Rachel was zoned out for a while until she heard the doorbell rang, she ran downstairs and said to her dads "I'll get it". Though she doesn't have any idea who might be on the other side of the door she'll still open it, not bothering to look at the peephole.

To her amazement, the last person that she expected to see was in front of her "Quinn Fabray, what are you doing here?" she asks nonchalantly.

"Ca-can we talk?" Quinn said nervously. Rachel looked at Quinn, studying the beauty in front of her, the blonde literally looked stressed and exhausted; there's a dark circle around her eyes and it's evident that she doesn't get any goodnight's sleep. She felt sorry and worried for her, especially the baby. Thru that Rachel decided to talk to Quinn Fabray for the last time.

"Sure, c'mon in" Rachel opened the door to make room for Quinn to enter.

"Thank you"

"Make yourself comfortable, I'll get you something to drink"

While Rachel is out, Quinn took the opportunity to survey the Berry household; all the furniture is first class even the technology is state of the art. Berry's household is very homey as the color is all pastel. Pictures are everywhere. There are pictures taken in different competitions, and for some reason Quinn's not surprised seeing every picture also has a medal and trophy. Rachel Berry is very competitive she doesn't quit not until Glee, she was struck with one picture. She has this sense of familiarity about this certain photograph. There are two girls sitting in the park playing together; the blonde girl aged about 5 or 6 was looking adoringly at the brunette who was laughing hysterically. She suddenly remembered that was her and Rachel, they used to be friends and now she sucked at it big time, as she held the picture frame she traced Rachel's face by her thumb and felt a tinge of pain which made her cry, these days she can't help but cry; damn hormones, but she's quite sure it's not the hormones. It's about this certain brunette; she didn't really realize how she felt until the day that she can't see her anymore.

"We were very young Quinn, but we were happy" Rachel said behind her back, which caused Quinn to flinch.

"Geez, Rachel are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Sorry, Quinn. I didn't mean to sneak behind your back, I saw that you were quite engrossed in the picture, I didn't have the heart to disturb you"

Rachel moved to the couch and situated herself comfortably, Quinn did the same.

"You have to drink that" she grabbed the fresh orange juice and gave to Quinn "Quinn are you okay, you look sick, do you ever sleep? Or try to look yourself in the mirror? I don't want to interfere with any of your decisions but what you're doing to yourself is not good for the baby"

"You never change you still love to talk, I'm not okay, it's been a month since the last time I saw you and I already prepared a rehearsal script if ever we saw each other again, but I guess this is a good time for that at least before you leave"

"So Mr. Figgins told everyone already, I'm leaving tomorrow Quinn, I need change and TASIS has an extremely interesting offer, whatever you want to say I already forgave you. I'm not good in holding grudges Quinn it's not my best asset, I can easily forgive people who hurt me. We only live once, so I want to make the best out of it."

Quinn looked at Rachel, she never realized how mature Rachel was, if she could just take back all the horrible things that she did towards the brunette. Everything is under the bridge now like Rachel said, they need to move on.

"I still want to say it, I'm sorry for every awful thing that I did to you, I know I can never take that back but I've learned my lesson. When I looked at the picture, I felt that I was happy then and secure, I want to feel that way again, I hope it's not too late if I can be your friend again" Quinn confesses hesitantly.

Rachel looked at Quinn carefully and she wished she could say yes but she's leaving the country and will not be back until next year. Her prayers have been answered, but she doesn't want to add to Quinn's stress. If saying yes will help Quinn pick up herself again by all means she will accept her former adversary to be her friend. Before she can even say the words, she pulled Quinn into a tight hug which made Quinn sob; she felt Quinn's body collapse thru the contact. Quinn's face nuzzled at Rachel's neck trying her best to control her emotions.

"Quinn, just let it out, you'll feel better in the end" Rachel assured the blonde and kissed the top of her head.

They remained in the same position for quite a while until she heard her parent's voice.

"Honey what happened?" her dad asks worriedly.

"She is just happy" Rachel trying to lighten up the mood.

"Oh happy but crying, that's new!" Matthew teased his daughter.

"That's the cry of happiness baby" Lucas said to his husband.

Rachel felt that Quinn didn't move anymore and was not even crying, she tried to call the blonde's name but she never got any response.

"Daddy, I think she passed out, can you carry her to my room?" she looked to her African-American father.

"Sure sweetie" Lucas carried the sleeping blonde to her daughter's bedroom, Rachel in tow, while her dad said "I'll call you honey when dinner is ready".

When they reached her room her daddy put down Quinn in the queen sized bed, "You will be okay here?" she asks her daughter.

"Yep daddy I'm cool, I don't think she will wake up anytime soon. Can she stay for the night?"

"Of course sweetie, by all means."

"And daddy, can you ask dad if he can check out Quinn when she wakes up, I'm just kind of worried about the baby" she said while looking at the sleeping blonde.

"I will tell your dad, anything else? This will be your last dinner here so it should be special" he winked at her daughter before he closed the door.

Rachel laid down beside Quinn and looked at her, the blonde was sleeping soundly; it was evident in her breathing that it seemed the first time that Quinn had slept in the past few weeks. She looked at the nightstand clock, it's already 5:30 PM, still early. She still had time to sleep before dinner, she looked once more at Quinn, tucked some hair behind the blonde's ear, kissed her forehead and slid under the comforter, turning her back to the blonde.

After seeming like an eternity she drifted off to sleep. She felt someone pulling her and when she was about to scream for help she remembered Quinn was in her bed. She slowly turned to her side facing the wide awake blonde.

"Hey" Quinn says in a hoarse voice.

"Hello"

"I fell sleep"

"Yes, you did"

"Did you carry me here?" Quinn asked teasingly.

"I may have a much toned body, but no Ms. Fabray I did not carry you, my daddy did."

"Thank you"

"What for?"

"For accepting me again"

Rachel sat up and looked at Quinn who's doing the same, "There is no use of arguing Quinn, I'm leaving tomorrow and that's all to it, the way you guys treated me over the course of my stay in WMHS and Glee made me re-evaluate what I wanted to do with my life, I've grown mature over time."

Quinn looked at Rachel apologetically, surely she didn't even know what to say, she was a bitch to her and there is no explanation why, maybe there is but with what's going on with her life during the past months she's not sure anymore. Her priorities are all over the place, she doesn't even know what to do with the baby. She hopes everything would be simple like her AP exam simple, but no, she knows that by now. What she can only do is to treasure the time that she has with the brunette.

"I don't know what to say Rachel" Quinn glanced at Rachel then looked at her hands that were surprisingly shaking.

Rachel noticed the tremor, grabbed the blonde's hands, interlaced their fingers together and looked at Quinn. "You don't have to say anything Quinn; the mere fact that you had the guts to be on our doorstep substantiates that you truly remorseful. I don't have to drag up the past, that's why it was called the past so we can put that behind us and move forward. I'm not perfect Quinn, I have a lot of imperfections that's why I don't have friends. People already judged me before they even got to know me."

Quinn couldn't help but cry again, she hated crying but it seems all she can do is to cry in front of Rachel Berry. She tried to calm down and say something but to her dismay she can't even say anything. She looked at Rachel; instead of uttering some words she pulled the brunette into a bone crushing hug. Quinn felt Rachel shiver against her, but she let her emotions speak for herself.

Rachel was smiling ear to ear when she pulled out from the hug and wiped the tears from Quinn's eyes with her thumb.

"Oh dear I did not know that you are so emotional Quinn Fabray"

"Yeah, hormones though."

"Yeah right hormones? Bite me!" Rachel said, trying to hold herself to not burst out in laughter.

"I would love to" the blonde teased back "Listen Rachel, when you leave tomorrow, when are you coming back?"

"It was decided since last week, we just arrived a couple of days ago from the school" Rachel paused and looked at Quinn before she continued "I'm afraid I'm not coming back until next holiday season, my parents will be visiting me there instead of me going back here" Rachel saw that Quinn was about to cry again.

"B—but it could change though, nothing is really permanent" she said while smiling at Quinn.

"I see. Can I know which school you'll be going to?"

"I'll be at TASIS, The American School in Switzerland"

"That's far."

"Kind of. Listen, we can still communicate, we are not living in a medieval era okay?"

"I think that's a good idea" Quinn grinned upon hearing what Rachel just said.

"Yeah, I guess. Quinn, can you do me a favor? Please don't tell anyone that you saw me, just pretend okay?" Quinn unconsciously nodded her head and eyed the brunette who was smiling again.

"Why are you smiling like that?"

"Well, I just noticed that you called me my first name; the last time I heard you said my name was when we had the picture."

Quinn felt embarrassed again; she never called Rachel by her first name because the brunette always reminded her of her insecurities. Rachel was always full of life; the girl was practically a walking dictionary and she knew why most of the people hated her because Rachel could do something that they can't do. She doesn't really hate Rachel, she was just jealous of her.

"It's about time I guess and really Rachel, I swear to your G-d that I am really and truly sorry for what I've done" Quinn said worriedly. Before she can even say another word she looked at Rachel who's already laughing so hard. The joy in the brunette's face was contagious and she can't help herself but to burst out also.

Meanwhile, Lucas and Matthew heard the whole conversation of the two girls and they can't feel more proud of their daughter. The sound of laughter of the two girls was music to their ears, just shame though that Quinn had just come around when their daughter is about to leave the state. More than anything the couple trusts their daughter in her decisions and whatever Rachel's decision will be, they will support it no matter what. Lucas looked at Matthew and said "Honey you have to call them down, I'll just check the oven" before Lucas left he gave a chaste kiss to Matthew, with that his husband was grinning ear to ear.

Rachel and Quinn were playfully chatting when they heard a knock on the door.

"C'mon in" Rachel said. It was one of Rachel's fathers.

"Honey, dinner is ready; you guys have to go down before it gets cold."

"Give us a minute and dad, did daddy rely my message?

"Yes baby, after dinner I will look at her" Michael winked at her daughter and smiled at Quinn before he left the room.

While straightening her clothes she asked Rachel "What was that all about?"

"Well, I've asked my father to give you a checkup. You were under a lot of stress lately and I am not sure if you're taking vitamins and eating proper nutrition so I asked him. I just want to make sure that you and your baby are okay."

"Oh Rachel" before she knew it Quinn pulled her again into a tight hug.

"I guess you're welcome; c'mon we need to go down."

Dinner went absolutely fine, they spent their time chatting endlessly, Quinn found out a lot of things about the Berrys. They are the complete opposite of their family, Lucas is very animated and loves to talk that's why he became a lawyer, aside from being extremely good on what he does while Matthew is the compassionate one and both of them love Broadway. She's not surprised why Rachel grew up to be a huge fan of Broadway; the dinner lasted for over 2 hours. She insisted to help do the dishes but Rachel just ignored her and instructed her to go with Matthew for the check up.

Quinn followed Matthew to his study, the room was big; it's like the master bedroom in her own house. As if everything that you needed was there. While she waited for Matthew to call her up she sat on the couch and browsed some books that interested her. She noticed one particular book, it's about early parenting. She started to open it when she noticed some tags and notes. Engrossed in reading the book Quinn didn't notice that Matthew had been calling her, until she felt someone touch her shoulder.

"Quinn, you okay?" Matthew asks worriedly.

Quinn was startled but answered right away "Yes Mr. Berry, I was just reading."

"Oh, that's Rachel. She's been reading that book for a while now"

"Why is she reading this?" motioning to the book.

"Well, she wanted to help a friend who's pregnant, she told us before that if her friend ever needed a helping hand she would know what to do. She just wanted to be prepared."

Matthew looked at Quinn and instantly he knew that the "friend" that their daughter was pertaining is no other than Quinn Fabray. He asked the young blonde to follow him to his clinic to start the check up. Quinn laid down on the bed so he could check her vital stats.

Quinn followed the doctor's every instruction but remained silent, her mind wondering about one certain brunette with the new information that she has. Rachel was willing to help her with the baby, but she doesn't even know what to do when the baby is born. Puck wants to keep it, but she doesn't want Puckerman to raise her daughter. If she keeps the baby it should be hers alone, not any other person. There is adoption but she doesn't know, before she knows it she was sobbing silently and felt Matthew's hands pulling her into a light embrace.

"I don't know what to do Mr. Berry, I don't know if I will keep her or give her up for adoption I just don't know what to do….G-d I'm so lost. I don't have my family to support me nor friends who I can really lean on. If I do keep her, I don't know how, I'm only 16. Mr. Berry I have nothing to give…." Quinn said between sobs. For the first time she was able to voice the concern that's been haunting her for 7 months now.

"Shhhh….Quinn, everything will fall into place" Matthew felt the need to console the lost girl, he felt sad because her own family disgraced her for one mistake. But regardless of anything, her family should overcome the situation and learn to accept the truth and support their daughter and most of all love her unconditionally.

After she finished all the dishes the brunette decided to follow them to the small clinic and was caught off guard on what she saw. Quinn was crying while her father consoled her.

Matthew saw his daughter outside the clinic door who looked worried; he motioned her to come inside. The brunette sat beside the blonde and put her one arm over her shoulder; when Quinn felt Rachel's hand she let go of Matthew and hugged Rachel tightly as if her life depended on that embrace. Rachel just looked at her father and smiled weakly; she wanted to say something but didn't have the courage to say it. Rachel pushed Quinn away lightly and put her two hands on the blonde's face. "Quinn, listen to me carefully. I'm not going to be here for a long time, but my fathers are. If you need anything, anything at all you tell them, they will help you. You're about to give birth in two months and my father is the best neonatal in the city so you will be in good hands." Rachel assured Quinn that no matter what happened, even when she's not around anymore her fathers will help her.

Quinn looked at Rachel and said "Okay, but I have to tell Puck because he planned everything already."

"Did you agree?"

"I didn't say anything because I don't have a plan" Quinn says exasperatedly.

"Okay, do you trust me?"

"Yes"

"Good, go back to my room and rest for a while. I will follow you in a moment, I just need to talk to my dads"

Before Quinn left the clinic she gave Matthew a peck on the cheek and smiled at Rachel.

After like an hour, Rachel ascended to her room and found Quinn sleeping soundly.

"Quinn?"

"Hmmm…" Quinn made a sound but did not open her eyes.

"Quinn sweetie you need to wake up. You have to drink your vitamins and change your clothes" Rachel encouraged the blonde to stand up.

Rachel waited for a minute for the blonde to get up and she smiled when she saw the pregnant girl open her eyes.

"What time is it?"

"It's already 9 PM"

"Oh G-d, I forgot to tell Puck, he might be looking for me already" Quinn said while feeling panicked.

"Don't worry, my dad already talked to Noah's mother and informed her that you will be staying the night."

"Uh okay" Quinn said while heading back to the bed.

"C'mon, drink these vitamins, it's good for you and the baby. I put everything that you need in the bathroom, take a hot shower and we need to talk" Rachel said, more of an instruction.

"Thanks Rach, you're so good to me, also your fathers. Did your parents know what I've done to you before?"

"Yeah, I don't keep secrets with my fathers Quinn; in this household we have absolute transparency."

"But they never said anything to me, why are they still nice despite of everything I've put their only daughter thru misery for years" Quinn can see that Rachel is holding herself from giggling.

"You're amazing you know that? I did not know that you had that kind heart in you Quinn. To answer your questions they will never do that, I'd never complain about you I never did. And my fathers are the most amazing people in the world they so understand, they can even put up with my tantrums." Rachel laughed on her last word. Quinn was laughing too and looked at Rachel.

"Thank you for everything, for not hating me" Quinn gave Rachel a peck on her right cheek.

"It's getting late Quinn, take your shower while I'll go downstairs and say goodnight to my dads"

"Okay, tell them my goodnights too."

"Will do" Quinn looked at the place that Rachel vacated and took a deep sigh before going inside the attached bathroom in Rachel's room.

Rachel sat in front of her fathers who were sitting on their love seat.

"What do you want to discuss honey" Lucas asks.

"It's about Quinn, you know the story right?" the couple just nodded and smiled.

"Okay, I'm proposing if you could let her stay with you guys when I leave, she can use my room" Rachel used her pleading eyes to her fathers.

"And what made you decide to do that?" Matthew snorted.

"Well, dad because I am not confident that Noah Puckerman can take care of her and besides if she decided to keep the baby I want the baby to feel loved, like the way you made me feel my whole life"

Lucas and Matthew looked at one another and grinned ear to ear. They already had the feeling that their daughter would ask this favor. Of course they will agree to that, they just want to make sure that this was what their daughter really wanted.

"Is this what you really want honey?" Lucas asks.

"Yes daddy, when dad was consoling her earlier I know she needs support not only financially but emotionally and I know you guys can do that because you were able to raise me perfectly" Rachel said proudly.

"Oh honey, because you're a good kid Rachel, you always were" Matthew said while sitting beside his daughter and put his one arm around her shoulder.

"You're okay with this? I mean she can stay here as long as she wants right?" Rachel looked at Lucas worriedly. In their family her daddy always has the last decision and her dad respected that.

"Of course honey, did you tell her about your plan?"

"Nope, I will tell her tomorrow before I leave"

"Sounds like a good plan to me then" Matthew says while getting up from the couch and "Okay, go get some rest. You have a long day tomorrow."

"Yes dad, and thank you so much for doing this for me, I love you both" Rachel says while hugging each of her fathers.

When Rachel reached her room Quinn was still wide awake and looking at her cynically. She felt something was wrong but didn't ask anything yet, she waited for Quinn to ask her. She sat on the left side of the bed and looked at Quinn.

"Why did you do that Berry? You don't have a bloody right to decide for myself!" Quinn was in rage saying those words.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asks, confused.

"I heard you! I heard you talk to your dads Man Hands! I don't need your charity, I don't need anyone's charity! How can you decide that Puck is not good enough for me? And where do you get the freaking idea that I will keep this baby? You're so full of yourself RuPaul! G-d I don't know why I went here in the first place!"

Rachel didn't know how to react, she just wanted to help nothing more and she really thought Quinn changed, but she never did. For the millionth time Quinn Fabray hurt her again, Rachel didn't know anymore if her love for the girl will overpower her or if she can finally let go and build a new life without Quinn in it. She had been harboring her feelings for the former Head Cheerio for a very long time now, her father's know how hard she's tried to forget Quinn but she just couldn't, it was so hard. When she saw the blonde earlier on their doorstep she thought things will be better but yet again not even 24 hours later Quinn is back to being the bitch she knows.

"I thought you changed Quinn, this afternoon when you arrived at our doorstep I thought that you really came to terms and let go of your pride, but you never did. If you think that I would help you because I pity you and out of charity you're mistaken, I did that because I thought you were my friend and friends help each other! I will not ask you to leave this house, stay for the night and take a rest you need that tomorrow because I'm pretty sure your team mates in Glee will ask you where you've been, go to bed Quinn. I will be in the guest room; if you need anything you know where to find me. Goodnight Fabray" with that Rachel Berry left the stunned Quinn in her room.

Quinn couldn't say a word; she badly wanted to say something bad but it was too late. She already knew that she made an awful mistake attacking the brunette. She felt guiltier seeing the brunette's eyes, it was very visible that yet again she hurt Rachel, she hated herself even more. She decided to talk to Rachel in the morning to clear the air between the two of them; she knew that it will be her last chance at least before Rachel leaves.

For most of the next hour Quinn couldn't sleep considering that Rachel's bed is very comfortable compared to Puck's bed. She tried to find a comfortable position but to no avail she felt more restless. Quinn looked at the clock and saw it was almost 12 midnight and she needed to sleep, she needed every ounce of energy to talk to Rachel tomorrow. She tried to get up to go the kitchen and drink one glass of milk but unfortunately she fell back down on the bed, she felt her forehead and tried to feel her temperature and she almost panicked when she felt she had a high temperature. "The baby" that was the first thing that she can think of, she read somewhere that if the mother is sick it's not healthy for the baby. She gave her all energy to get up and look for Rachel, she needed the brunette.

Every step that Quinn took was like being on the top of a pyramid and falling down, she ignored the pain. When she was out of the door, she looked down the hall and knock at the first room that she saw. Quinn hoped it would be the guest room that Rachel talked about, she knocked again and heard some footsteps walking to the door.

On the other side of the door, Rachel and her cousin Olivia who arrived later that night are having fun playing word factory when they heard the knock on the door. They looked at each other and contemplate if they will get it or not until they heard the second knock and Rachel stood up to see who's outside while her cousin is in tow.

Rachel opened the door and look at Quinn who looks quite the mess, her hair all over her face and her eyes were bloodshot red.

"Oh goodness gracious, Quinn what happened to you?" Rachel asked worriedly while touching her forehead.

"You're burning up, Livy ask my father to come" Olivia went out the room immediately and looked for her uncles.

When Quinn felt Rachel's hands on her forehead, she collapsed into Rachel's arms and passed out.

"Quinn, honey look at me please wake up, c'mon wake up!"

When her fathers arrived at the guest room, Rachel was cradling Quinn on her lap and stroking her hair.

"I'll be right back" her dad said.

"Daddy is she going to be okay?" Rachel looked at her father and cousin who are sitting beside her.

"Rach, she will be fine it's only a fever I guess nothing serious" her father assured her.

"Uncle Matthew will make sure that she will be fine"

When Matthew arrived he has medicine and a stethoscope in his hands and asked his husband to carry Quinn into Rachel's room. With everything that her dad was doing with Quinn, the three other Berrys were sitting silently on the couch in Rachel's room. After like an hour Rachel was left with Quinn, she pulled her chair from the study table and sat in front of Quinn. Rachel stared at the beauty beneath her eyes and smiles sweetly, if only Quinn would know how she felt. She stayed for quite a while in the same position and fell asleep.

Rachel woke up with the slight knock on her door and realized the time, when she opened the door it was her dad.

"Honey, you need to get ready, you don't want to be late to the airport"

"Thanks dad"

"Just go down when you're done, for breakfast. I'll just check Quinn" Rachel nodded to her father and looked at Quinn one more time before she started on what needed to be done.

It was already 7 am when Rachel finished everything including breakfast; her luggage was neatly placed in her fathers SUV. She looked at her cousin and said "Don't let her leave the house until my fathers get her, make a promise Livy."

"Yeah I promise, you've been telling me this for like a hundred times already sweetie" Olivia teased her cousin.

"I know, I'm just worried"

"You really do love her, don't you?"

"I guess so; I don't think I can forgive her easily if I don't."

"I know there are things that need to be done Rach and I'm not in the position to tell you what to do. I am proud because at a young age you've made quite a big decision concerning your life changes. Just don't look back okay, think of those happy memories. I promised if I have time I will try my best to visit you there, just now I realized I should've gone to Europe to take my law degree, but well things happen for a reason. You're doing a good thing, Quinn will be okay, I am sure of that" Olivia hugged her baby cousin tightly and kissed her forehead.

"Oh, Livy I didn't know you had that in you. I just wish Damien is here too and please Olivia my car, I want to be able to drive that car when I get back here" Rachel said to her cousin faithfully.

For the last time Rachel went to her room and looked at the certain blonde lying on her bed. Once again she reclaimed her previous position that night and stroked Quinn's face.

"When you wake up I'm not going to be here anymore. You're beautiful Quinn and I love you, I always will" with that Rachel kissed Quinn on the lips and left her own room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Quinn woke up in unfamiliar surroundings, she waited for a few minutes to open her eyes just to adjust to the light. Slowly she sat up in a queen sized bed, while trying to remember what just occurred the previous night. She made a quick change to her previous clothes which where neatly placed by the foot of the bed. Quinn looked around and she saw Rachel's picture hanging on the wall. Quinn eventually remembered everything, to her dismay she didn't see Rachel's luggage that she saw yesterday. Quinn felt her heartbeats weren't normal, she suddenly felt a surge of panic, just the mere thought of Rachel leaving without even talking to her.

Quinn went downstairs almost running and calling Rachel's name, but to her dismay there is no petite brunette appearing. She looked at the wall clock hanging on the living room and found out it was already 11:30 in the morning.

"Oh G-d, why didn't I wake up on time?"

"O honey, because you were delirious last night so given that reason it's not really surprising for you to be awake at this time" Olivia said while sipping her hot tea.

Quinn didn't even notice that there was someone sitting on the couch, how could she be that oblivious, she was only thinking of one person. But whoever this girl would be for sure she has some answers. Quinn's head was throbbing again, she thought about school and Glee practice. There are a lot of things that she needed to do but she didn't have the strength and motivation to do it.

Olivia stood up in front of Quinn and looked at her in the eye, the blonde is practically tall but at least not taller than her.

"My name is Olivia, I'm Rachel's cousin. We were not properly introduced last night since you passed out right after Rachel touched you." Olivia teased Quinn.

Quinn felt her cheeks were getting redder with that statement. She examined the older brunette in front of her, she's beautiful too in a way that she has a strong facial feature. Rachel's eyes are warm and innocent while Olivia's is more intense, she doesn't know how to put it.

"Yeah sorry about that, listen I know Rachel is not here but what time will she be back?" Quinn asked hopefully.

"Oh, she isn't coming back until next year. Rachel already left at 7:00 am, her flight is scheduled to take off at 10:00 am"

Quinn suddenly felt week and crashed on the couch beneath her, she looked at Olivia with her watery eyes and said "I messed up big time, we were already fine but I said things to her last night and she walked out. All my life I've always hurt Rachel. I just can't seem to do it right with her."

When she didn't get a response from Olivia, she felt that the best thing to do is leave.

"I should go, I need to go to school so at least I can still rehearse for Regionals" Quinn said weakly while getting up from the couch.

Before Quinn walked to the door Olivia grabbed her arm and said "You can't leave Quinn."

"Why? You don't have the right to tell me what I can or can't do, just let go of my arm."

"Okay." Olivia released Quinn's arm before she continued "I made a promise to my cousin Quinn, she made me promise to look after you at least until her fathers get back from the airport. If I let you go out that door, for sure Rachel will know that, I'll be doomed. You don't know my cousin when she's disappointed."

"Oh I think I have a very clear picture on what you are talking about Olivia" just imagining Rachel's face brought happiness to her heart.

"Oh you're smiling, I think that is a good sign then."

Quinn glanced at Olivia and reclaimed her previous position on the couch, the older brunette claimed the space beside Quinn and gave her an assuring smile.

"For what it's worth Quinn, Rachel never left your side last night. She stayed there the whole night just to make sure you're okay. Whatever you said to her it's already forgiven, Rachel is not really good in holding grudges, that's not her best asset you know."

"It's just that, I don't know I really don't know what got into me last night when I said those things. I know she just wanted to help out but I was awful to her for years. How can she possibly accept me unconditionally?" Quinn said desperately. When she did not get any response from Rachel's cousin, she continued pouring her heart out.

"If the situation was reversed I don't think I'll do the same" Quinn just put her hands to her face and started to cry. Quinn had been crying since yesterday and she just can't help it. The rejection that she felt from her parents, her downfall from the social ladder and Rachel, she didn't even know where to start, Quinn felt like running in the dessert without anything to quench her thirst and Rachel appear like an oasis for her. She felt Olivia's arm enveloping her fragile body, and they stayed together for a while until they heard a click from the door, it was Rachel's fathers.

Quinn pulled away from Olivia and looked at the couple while getting up from the couch.

Matthew and Lucas eyed Quinn for a while and gave the blonde an encouraging smile.

"Quinn, we need to talk to you" the lawyer said.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Nope honey, nothing is wrong. Just sit right there while you talk to Lucas, Olivia and I will prepare something to eat, as you see it's already lunch time." with that Matthew kissed Quinn on her forehead and grabbed his niece's arm while moving towards the kitchen.

Quinn sat silently opposite Lucas, she had tons of things running in her head on what might be the things that they are going to discuss. Clearly not even for 24 hours, she started to like Rachel's fathers, they are caring, sweet, supportive and ready to lend their ears, which are the total opposite of her parents.

"You know that Rachel already left and she will not be back anytime soon right?" Quinn just nodded her head and let Lucas continue.

"My husband and I, we never interfere on our daughter's decision, whatever it is that she wanted as long as we know that she will be safe we are totally okay with that. We know who you are Quinn, you are the head tormentor of our daughter, but like Rachel just said to you, it was all in the past. What we need to do is move on and be our best."

Lucas eyed Quinn intently, he wanted to make sure that the blonde will fully understand what he wanted to say. They already know that Quinn freaked out last night on the issue and if they want to get a positive answer from the blonde they need to be patient.

"Mr. Berry I do apologize for everything that I've done to Rachel. I know as her parent considering your close relationship with her I've hurt you guys too. Believe me when I say if I can just take back everything that I said and redo every situation that I put her into I will do that in a split second, but I can't I just can't, I'm really sorry Mr. Berry" Quinn looked at Lucas and tried to comprehend what's was written all over the older man's facial expression but she couldn't read anything.

Lucas did the same with Quinn and gave the blonde a reassuring smile.

"Quinn, we don't want to talk to you because of that. I know you overheard Rachel last night about her request and we also know too how you reacted on the given situation. What I'm trying to say is can you reconsider our daughter's offer? Living in this house will never be the same again while Rachel is gone. "Lucas saw the change of emotion in Quinn's hazel eyes.

"It's not what you think Quinn, we don't want a replacement, and we are just offering you to live with us until you figure out what to do with your baby. Since my Matthew is a doctor you're quite sure to be in good hands with your as yet to be born baby girl."

Quinn didn't even know how to react to the offer, it was a pretty good offer considering she already had tons of problems facing her on how she will be after the baby is born. Surely the insurance can't pay everything even though Puck promise that he would help her, she just can't be at peace with that. The only reason why she accepted Puck's proposal to live with him is she didn't have any place to go.

"We are not pressuring you for your answer Quinn, take your time don't worry about anything. We can discuss those issues later on, okay? And please do call me Lucas"

"Thank you Lucas, that's very generous of you."

Lucas stood up from the loveseat and pulled Quinn into an affectionate embrace. Quinn felt safe that very moment, all the worries that she has been harbouring for quite sometime now flew away. It felt like she was a child again in her father's arm, the only difference is Lucas isn't her father. She wished that her father was like Lucas, it wouldn't have reached this point of feeling so astray if her father could only understand and love her. Since she's here now, what she needs to do is to attend to the matter at hand, from the bottom of her heart she already made a decision but she needs to be 100% sure first.

Quinn life turned upside down after a couple of weeks passed. Glee, school, the baby, Puck, the offer and Rachel, those are the only things that she can think of. Glee rehearsal was getting tedious, two more weeks and they will be competing at Regionals and nobody had the guts to admit that they are kind of anxious and missed Rachel. This would be the first time that they are going to perform without the brunette. When she went back to rehearse after her short stint with the Berrys, she was bombarded with tons of question except for Puck who knew what happened.

Regionals came up and every one is at their best behaviour, a little nervous but Quinn knew things would get better. It had been a month since the last time she heard Rachel's voice and it had been a week since she accepted the Berry's offer. Living together with Lucas and Matthew has been the best decision that she made so far, everyday it was always like an affirmation that she made the right decision. She doesn't care what her parents would say if they found out, though her team mates at Glee don't even know it yet but Puck did and he never said a word. It was easy telling Puck that she's leaving and when he asked her where she's going to live, Quinn gave him a straight answer. Since then Puck never said anything and she was grateful because she doesn't know how to answer that.

Quinn was in the lounge waiting for the Berrys to come as they promised. They will be in the audience watching her and she was ecstatic when they told her.

"Hey sweetie" Lucas greeted her then gave Quinn a quick peck on her cheek, Matthew did the same.

"Hey" Quinn says while giggling, she felt really at ease already with the couple. "You're just on time."

"Of course, at least we try to be" the African-American dad of Rachel said.

"Honey, don't start with your corny jokes at Quinn they are about to start, we need to find our seat" Matthew said playfully.

Lucas' phone rang and he excused himself from the two who were chatting animatedly. Quinn just loved Matthew's sense of humour as it never failed to amuse her. She's about to say something when she hears her name being called by Lucas.

"Quinn, someone wants to talk to you" Lucas handed the phone to the blonde and talk to his husband.

"Hello."

"Hi Quinn" Quinn felt her heart beat faster upon hearing the voice that she so missed.

"Rachel, Oh gees I wanted to say a lot of things but the competition are about to start….." it was pause on the other line, Quinn can only hear a labour breathing from Rachel.

"Rach are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm right here"

"I miss you Rach, I wish you were here." Quinn said sadly.

"I miss you too Quinn. Listen, I called because I want to wish you good luck on your performance, my dads told me that you guys were having one heck of a rehearsal. Don't stress yourself Quinn, it's not good for the baby and for you too."

"I know this will be the last time but if ever we can make it to Nationals I won't have my protruding stomach anymore. How's everything over there?" Quinn wanted to talk more but she knew she didn't have enough time, since Santana keep giving her death glares for the last 10 minutes.

"Quinn, listen I don't have enough time to talk, cellular phones are not allowed during weekdays, I just requested our Headmistress to allow me to make this phone call. Everything is fine, it's totally different but I'm starting to like it here, people are nice they don't have much of a bully in here" Rachel said trying to be funny at her last sentence.

"Rachel C'mon, the game is about to start! Hurry up!" Quinn heard someone talking to Rachel at the background.

"Give me a sec, I'll be right there" Rachel replied to whoever that was. Quinn felt a sudden irritation at that voice.

"Quinn,"

"I know Rach, you need to go now, and can I even talk to you again?"

"I'll call dad on the weekend, I know you're living with them Quinn. I really got to go, Louella is going to kill me if I'm not outside the door in 10 seconds. Goodbye Quinn, please tell my dads I love them. Take care of yourself and break a leg!"

Before she can even say goodbye it was a dead line already. Quinn handed the phone to Lucas and told them what Rachel said and hugged each of them before she joined her team mates. When she got in all eyes is on her, as if she did something horrible.

"What was that, Fabray?" Santana asks.

"What was what?

"I mean if I'm not mistaken that's Rachel Berry's parents, what are they doing in here?" Mercedes snapped.

"Oh that, there are here to watch us, is there any problem? Quinn barks back.

"Berry is not here, why do they need to come?" Kurt snorted.

"Because I'm here Kurt, they are here because I'm here! Are there any more questions? If you guys are already satisfied can we focus now?"

Quinn glanced at everyone and saw them nod. They watched the other performers, every show choir who just performed was amazing. When the emcee called Vocal Adrenaline, the audience went wild it was quite obvious that they are the crowd favourite. When the performance of the number 1 contender was done the emcee went back in the middle of the stage and introduced their school. Quinn looked at the couple in the second row and blew them a kiss while they are waiting for their cue.

Santana started singing their ballad song, everyone was amazed on how good Santana's voices was. It was a nick of time decision to change who will song the solo. At first it was Mercedes but for some reason Mercedes could not nail it until one day Santana talked to Mr. Schuester and let her sing. Schuester let Santana sing it in front of everyone and it was an unanimous decision that she sing the solo spot. When Rachel left, the whole group felt something was missing, there are times in the middle of their rehearsal everybody will just be quiet, look at each other and say nothing. They couldn't admit to them selves that without Rachel Berry it became totally different. They don't hear someone who will say how bad the choreography was and the choices of music are not appropriate.

When Santana finished the ballad, they gave every ounce of their energy to their group performance and the audience went wild to their very original rendition of Lady Marmalade. When they finished their performance they received a standing ovation from the audience. They exited the stage, as soon as they reached their lounge area everyone was screaming their hearts out with the reception that they received from the audience. They knew they had a chance to win it.

"I'm so proud of you guys, you did wonderful in there" their director said to them while grinning ear to ear.

"We did it, didn't we?" Tina said enthusiastically.

William Schuester approached Santana and gave her a squeeze. "We made the right decision putting you in there".

"Listen guys, whatever happens tonight even if we don't win the title, and place only second we still get our chance to compete at Nationals, the more important thing is you guys had fun" Mr. Schuester said.

Everyone nodded in agreement, before they heard the emcee went back on stage to announce the winner. New Direction was the last performer that night. Every team was called back on the stage, and the emcee starts announcing the winner.

"And now our second place, well whoever is called out for the second place post the team that will remain will be the Regional Champion" the emcee announced.

Quinn looked at everyone, it seemed that each one of them felt quite nervous. She looked at the audience and saw Matthew and Lucas smiling at her and she smiled back, suddenly she wasn't feeling anxious anymore. Quinn knows that even if they lose she will have a family to go home to. Quinn focused her attention on the emcee while they are about to announce the winner.

"Second place goes to New Directions of William McKinley High School, Lima Ohio."

The audience went wild when they heard that New Directions was awarded second place. It only means that again Vocal Adrenaline will take home the Regional Title.

New Directions was trying their best to cool it off, Finn took their award and the whole team followed him and did their bows to the audience. Immediately they went backstage to waiting and talk among themselves on why they didn't make it.

Jesse St. James approached and congratulated them. "Do you really think you could defeat us? If you still had Rachel Berry with you guys, there might have been a chance for you to at least match us."

Jesse looked at everyone and said "Victory is sweet" With that he turned on his heels and left the disappointed New Directions before they could even retaliate at him. Too bad Rachel is not there anymore, because he knows for sure if Berry was even there, New Directions has a big chance of winning. The petite diva can beat him on the stage with her powerful voice. He was just glad at least before he left Vocal Adrenaline they won Regionals again.

Quinn was staying at home due to Matthew and Lucas's requests, since any moment she could be having the baby. For her part she doesn't want to take a risk, that's why she obeyed. For the last few weeks after their devastating loss to Vocal Adrenaline, everyone seems to have one goal that is to win Nationals and take the title away from Vocal Adrenaline who has held it for 3 consecutive years. Even though no one is talking about it, she knew one of the reasons why they are working their ass off during rehearsal. It's because of what St. James told them that if Rachel Berry was with them they have a huge chance of winning it. Some of her team mates even cursed Rachel for leaving the school and left them without the lead singer, Mercedes is powerful singer but not powerful as Rachel. Everything is under the bridge now, Rachel is having a fun time in her new school in Switzerland, according to what Rachel told her during last week's conversation and yet again cut short because a certain Louella interrupted them and Rachel said goodbye to her.

It was kind of a nice arrangement. Every weekend Rachel would call her fathers and ask for her and they would talk for about an hour, just merely discussing what happened during the days. It will only be cut short if one of them needs to something like going to the bathroom or something else.

Quinn sat on the love seat, turned on the TV and looked for something sensible to watch until her phone rang, she turns down the volume first before she answered.

"Hello."

"Hey Quinn. I though maybe you were sleeping"

Quinn lit up when she heard the brunette's voice,

"Nope I'm just watching something sensible on TV, what's up? Why are you calling? It is only Friday"

"I hope you're watching something good for the baby Quinn, I've told you before whatever the baby hears does somewhat affect her, even inside the womb. Yes, I am perfectly aware that today is Friday, Switzerland has official holidays except for the usual ones so we were able to get our phones earlier"

"Then you called me right away?" she was teasing the brunette.

"Nope, I called dad first. I wanted to make sure you're fine."

"That's very sweet of you to do that Rachel, really what your family is doing to help is more than enough. I don't even know how to repay you guys."

Rachel has discussed this matter with Quinn many times already, but it seemed the blonde couldn't get enough of it.

"Quinn Alicia Fabray, it's getting tedious discussing this matter over and over again, I already told you like a hundred times that you don't have to do anything now. If you figure out what you want to do with your baby and the future that's the time we can discuss this matter but for now can we just drop the subject?"

Quinn felt the pleading in Rachel voice, she kind of liked it when the brunette asked her to something.

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven, did you ever think about your plan for the baby? Are you going to keep her?"

There was a silence.

"Hmmm…yeah I've been thinking a lot lately and I know what I want to do. It's just that I don't think if I can do it."

Silence again.

"You want to keep the baby." It's more of a statement on Rachel's part than a question.

"H—how do you know that?"

"My fathers said that you asked for my baby pictures and you've already looked at the album many times already and every time that they watched you, you always have tears in your eyes. That's why they felt you wanted to keep your baby."

"Oh, I didn't know that somebody was watching me" she cleared her thought before she continued "I want to keep her Rach, it's just that I am not capable of raising her, I can't afford those baby things. And I have to go to college, I just don't know how to deal with these problems."

"Quinn, listen to me. Like I told you don't worry about anything, my fathers and I will support you no matter what kind of decision you may decide either way. College we can deal with that later, we have to take one step at a time and right now think about your baby in your womb and how you will let her see the world safely."

Quinn held her stomach when she felt the baby kick.

"Oh Rach, the baby just kicked" Quinn had tears in her eyes. Yet again she knew she made the right decision in keeping her. She wanted to be the best mother not in the world but at least for her baby. "Her" that's a very nice thing to hear.

"Rachel, you still there?" Quinn asked worriedly.

'Yeah, sorry. I was kind of zoned out. "I know my dads will kill me if I say this to you, but I need you to know it."

"Rach, what is it?" Quinn asks worriedly.

"Go upstairs, go to the guest room that's already your room because you refused mine."

Quinn rolled her eyes with what Rachel just said, she remembered the arguments with Rachel when she refused to move to the brunette room.

"Okay I'm here, what now?"

"Can you see the door near the dresser?"

"Yeah. Rach what is this? Your fathers told me not to open it" Quinn said, sceptical to follow Rachel's instruction.

"Well yeah, I'm so sure they will say that because it wasn't finished until 4 days ago. For sure it is safe for you to go inside, by this time the paint has dried already."

Quinn felt exited immediately, slowly she opened the door and was amazed to see a nursery room with complete baby stuff. The crib was placed in the middle with four bin bags each side, the painting on the walls are colourful, mostly animated characters from the fairytales story. There is a working table on one corner of the room, beside that is the well decorated lavatory specifically designed for babies. The other side of the room is a single bed which is properly decorated too. Quinn felt her eyes begin to swim with tears, before she knew it she was silently weeping for joy, she was so touched and blessed having be at the Berrys.

"Quinn, are you still there? Oh you're crying you don't like it? Just tell me I'll talk to my dads right away"

"Oh Rach, no don't do that, it's perfect. It's just that I am overwhelmed, these are tears of joy. Rachel Berry, I don't think I've felt this happy since everything went chaotic. Thank you Rach, I just wish you would be here when I deliver" Quinn was able to say out loud what's in her heart and mind for the past few weeks. She knows it would be impossible because the brunette just left a couple of months ago.

"If I could I would, but I can't it's against school policy, my dad promised me to take a video of you." She said excitedly.

"No way, Rachel I wouldn't allow that! I mean I'll be delivering a baby in normal way, no no no… that's not going to happen."

"Well, Quinn Fabray I thought you lost that in you, you're still concerned about your figure then, we'll see about that" Rachel burst out in soft giggle.

"Rachel, I'm not talking about how big I am right now, I'm talking about the way the baby will be delivered! I'm quite sure you attend biology right?"

"On that, still Quinn you have nothing to be shy of" Rachel said, still smiling.

Rachel joyful voice was contagious and she couldn't help being affected too. Quinn left her room and went back downstairs while still talking to Rachel on the phone, she reclaimed her previous position and lifted her feet on the table when she felt something wet dripping from her legs. She touched it and said to Rachel "Rach I think my water just broke" trying to be calm.

Rachel almost felt panic when she understood what just happened.

"Okay, Quinn just hold on the line don't close it, I'll tell my dads."

Before she can even protest, Quinn heard Rachel talking to her roommate asking for the phone.

"Give me your phone now Louella, Quinn is about to deliver the baby I need to talk to my fathers"

"Use your phone" Louella said.

"I can't, she's still on the line" Rachel said annoyingly.

"Oh mother of mercy, you really love her Berry" Louella rolled her eyes and give her phone to her friend.

"Oh thank you!" Rachel immediately dialled her dads number and waited for someone to pick it up "C'mon dad answer the phone no voicemail please, she continued the mantra until the fifth ring. She heard her dads baritone voice.

"Dad it's Rachel, Quinn just have her water break, go back home now, she's alone there!" Rachel requested her father, it was like more of an instruction than a request.

Matthew didn't even have a chance to greet the caller who happened to be his daughter. Before running to his car he ran to his assistant. "I'll be back. Ask them to prep the delivery room. I am going to get Quinn." The assistant just nodded her head and obeyed what the doctor just told her.

"Quinn, dad is on the way to pick you up."

"Okay Rach… I think I'm in labor too…" Quinn said while panting.

"Okay Quinn just take a deep breath, do you want me to call someone else at least to be with you in the hospital?"

"You"

"Honey, I can't do that" Rachel said in frustration.

"I know, Rach. It hurts, I don't think I can make it to the hospital" Quinn said hysterically.

Rachel's heart was beating faster, she doesn't even know what to do or say to Quinn, she never had an experience with pregnancy, she reads book but not about this stuff. Rachel looked at her new found best friend and mouthed "I don't know what to say to her."

Before she knew it Louella grabbed the phone from Rachel's hand and talked to Quinn. She knows exactly what to do, thank goodness she has a sister who happened to be giving birth at home thru Lamaze method.

"Hey Quinn, my name is Louella McDormatt. I'm Rachel's friend."

"Hey, I'm Quinn" she doesn't know why Rachel passed the phone to the girl.

"Okay, listen up. Take a deep breath, try to stand up and walk"

"Are you insane? I'm in labor, how could I probably stand up?" Quinn said sardonically.

"Okay I'll let it pass, it's the technique in Lamaze method. Quinn, you have to walk around during labor so when you deliver it will help you cope during the strong and painful contractions. Do you understand what I am talking about now?"

"Yeah I guess" Quinn tried to relax herself and started walking back and forth. When she felt a contraction she stopped and took a deep breath.

"You get it now?" Louella asked worriedly.

"Yeah thanks, can you pass the phone to Rachel now? "

"Of course"

"You okay now? " Rachel asks sweetly.

"Yeah, it helped" Quinn continued to do the technique while talking to Rachel until Matthew got there.

Matthew arrived at their home, quickly followed by Lucas. Lucas went directly to her room to get her emergency bag. When he went back downstairs he saw his husband checking Quinn vitals while still on the phone.

"How many cm honey?" Lucas asks.

"It was 5, how long have you been in labor?"

"Almost an hour" Quinn said while wiping her sweat.

"Is that Rachel?"

"Yeah" Quinn handed the phone to Lucas.

"Honey, you have to put it down now, we're going to the hospital. We'll keep you updated whatever happens."

"Okay daddy, I just stayed on the line because Quinn was alone and now you guys are there I know she will be safe. Can you pass the phone to her?"

"Quinn, I'm going to put the phone down now, and my fathers will take good care of you. Oh I really wish I was right there."

Quinn felt the emotion from the brunette.

"It's okay Rach, I'll talk to you soon."

There was an awkward amount of silence. Quinn felt the need to go and said "I love you Rachel" with that she finished the call and put her phone in the emergency bag and glanced at the couple who looked pretty much stunned. She didn't know where she got the courage to say those words that she's been harbouring for weeks now.

Matthew and Lucas eyed each other and smiled happily. They knew sooner or later Quinn would come out but not in front of them.

"So you love our daughter Quinn Fabray." It's more like a statement than a question on Lucas' part.

Quinn looked at Lucas and said confidently "Yeah, I love your daughter."

"Good, at least now we know that Rachel will not get hurt" It was Matthew.

"What do you mean by that?" she's kind of hopeful that the brunette felt the same way.

"You'll know soon, but now we need to go to the hospital and deliver this baby to the world." Lucas said while carrying Quinn, which the blonde felt safe in his arms.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Rachel was kind of shocked hearing those three words, she didn't even know how to respond to that. Quinn loves her. The head tormentor of her life loves her. She couldn't felt more blessed that week, two great news in one week "amazing just amazing" Rachel thought.

A couple of weeks ago she tried out for the Lacrosse team after being trained by Louella and watched non stop Lacrosse competition in school as well in movies she learned fast. It was hard at first, there are a few times that she couldn't walk straight because her foot was slightly fractured and bruises all over her body. The game is very tedious, she's not really a fan of sports but she wanted to try different things and Lacrosse seems to catch her interest.

She still remembers the first time she arrived at the school, when she got in to their dormitories her room mate was already settled and there is an IPOD in her ears.

_Rachel took her side of the bed; the room is quite big enough to place everything that she owns. She saw an organ beside the study table of her room mate and tried not to panic, she wanted change. She doesn't want to talk about Broadway, it can wait and being the star really meant to be for her, for sure it will go to her no matter what. It doesn't mean she lost the interest, it's just that she lost the drive to go further, she still has her electives anyway, music and drama. She doubt if there is a Glee Club in here._

"_Hey, I'm Louella. You're Rachel Berry right?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_American?"_

"_Yes I am."_

"_I'm British."_

"_Well, I kind of noticed."_

_Rachel was hoping that Louella is not a Broadway fan._

"_Do you like Broadway?" she asks._

"_What?"_

"_I said if you like Broadway?"_

"_Nope, I am not a fan" with that answer Rachel felt she was relived._

"_That's good"_

"_Whatever Rachel, for sure you have nothing to do yet, I am totally bored. Let's watch Lacrosse on the field."_

"_Lacrosse, that's sport right?"_

"_I guess yeah unless the world changed while I'm taking a nap and Lacrosse became Broadway thingy." Louella rolled her eyes._

"_You don't have to be sarcastic; I just want to make sure. What time do we need to leave?"_

"_In about 3 hours, you can still take a nap before we go; for sure you still have a jet lag."_

"Rachel, what is amazing?" Louella asks her curiously.

"She loves me Ell" Rachel said dreamily.

"Who loves you?"

"Quinn, she just said it before she hung up"

"Oh that" Louella knew exactly what Rachel was talking about, she knew the whole story why the brunette transferred to their school. For a short period of time they became friends.

"And I will be playing on the Lacrosse team, consider that I mean if my former teammates found out that I play this game, they will make fun of me. But here you guys are so amazing, you're all happy for me"

"Oh you're getting cornier Berry, I don't even like it. Anyways how was she?"

"My dads said they will keep me posted."

"Okay lover girl, change your clothes, we have practice in an hour" Rachel looked at her friend and smiled happily.

"Yes Captain" Louella just laughed kind heartedly seeing the brunette this happy.

That afternoon Rachel, Louella and all the Lacrosse team was out on the field practicing. Rachel is one of the five midfielders. But with her stamina she lasted long enough for a very strenuous practice. She doesn't even need to go to the gym to keep in shape, the sport itself does it for her. But still due to Louella's infamous addiction in working out they still end up in school gym twice a week.

At the girls locker everybody talks about the next game how they are going to defeat their contender when Rachel heard her phone ring and immediately answered it when she saw her dad's picture on the screen.

"Yes dad" she excused herself to everyone.

"Hey baby girl."

"She's already delivered, it is a healthy baby girl. She got Puckerman's eyes honey. Aside from that it's all Quinn'" Matthew said proudly.

"Oh that's good news. "Can I talk to her?"

"Yeah she just woke up, I'll give the phone to her"

"Hey Quinn"

"Hey Rach"

"How are you feeling?"

"Sore, but aside from that I feel wonderful. The rest of Glee is outside, but I told Matthew I wanted to talk to you first."

"Okay, is there something wrong? I mean dad said the baby is healthy."

"Rach don't worry, both of us are okay, I just want to talk to you about what I said earlier before we went to the hospital"

"Oh that" before she says anything more, she heard Louella calling her.

"Quinn, can you hold on just give me a sec"

It was silence for about 5 minutes and Quinn just waited.

"Hey you still there?"

"Yep, still here"

"Sorry, it was Louella. She asked me if I will be joining the team later on"

"Team?"

"Yeah, I told you before. I did try out for Lacrosse right? I got in, we had our practice earlier."

"Wow, Rachel Berry, I didn't know that you're such a fan of Lacrosse" Quinn teases.

"I wasn't, until I got here. It is a good sport Quinn and my team mates are all amazing. There are all like me."

There was silent again.

"Rachel, what I said earlier, I meant it every word of it"

Silence again.

"Quinn, you are sure about that, I mean you just don't feel that because in some way you felt you owe us?"

"Rachel Berry, I'm sure. I love you more than you'll ever know and I'm willing to wait."

Rachel was already beaming; she looked kind of crazy bouncing in the girl's locker room.

"You don't have to wait for a long time Quinn, I love you too, and I always have. I already said that to you before I left for Europe."

"Oh Rach, I though I was dreaming then, and you kissed me."

"Yes I did."

"I'm not going to request you come home Rachel, but I really wish you were here with me."

"Quinn honey, you know if I could I would. We can still talk every weekend and send emails everyday so we will not stop communicating."

"I think that's a good idea."

"Honey, you have to see your team mates now I'm sure everyone is complaining already."

"I guess I need to. I love you baby. You have to come home on holidays"

"I will, I have reasons to go home now, and I'll just discuss it with my dads"

"Okay then, take care of yourself. As soon as we get out of here, I'll send you pictures of Isabella Rachel Fabray" Quinn said proudly.

"Oh Quinn you used my name" Rachel was already teary eyed.

"Yes, I hope you don't mind"

"Are you crazy? I love it and I love you."

"I love you too, Rach"

Rachel was smiling like a lunatic when Louella went back to the girls locker to check on her.

"Oh geez Berry, that smile. Spill."

"I finally told Quinn that I love her."

"Good, then we have reason to celebrate. How's the baby?"

"She's healthy and Quinn named her Isabella Rachel Fabray. She used my name!"

"That's why you're bloody smiling like a lunatic all by yourself" Louella was smiling now.

"I know it'ss just that it's crazy!"

"Okay, then we need to move now so we can arrive early at Bern."

Rachel was happy, relocating in a boarding school did her good, in the last two months she knew that a lot of things had changed for her. And now they are in love, she can't just contain the happiness that she felt. Even her team mates knew something was up when they went to Bern that very weekend.

It was Sunday morning, Louella and Rachel decided to jog over the campus. The school is quite marvellous, the location is just fantastic with a lot of mountains. Rachel found serenity, every time she felt stressed just look at the enigmatic view. After like an hour jogging, Rachel checked her cell phone and found a missed call from her dad. She decided to take a shower first then returned the call. When Rachel settled in she dialled her father's number, it took 4 rings before her father answered.

"Hey dad."

"Hey sweetie, somebody is in a mood today."

"I just woke up in the right side of the bed, so what's up?"

Matthew is currently sitting in the visitor chair near Quinn's bed.

"Quinn told us already honey."

"Oh, I will tell you dad it's just that..."

"Its okay baby, your daddy and I are just happy for both of you. Quinn told us her plan about the baby and you spoiled our surprise for her."

'Well, I wanted to know her reaction. That's why I told her."

"It's fine, okay I'll pass the phone to Quinn now" Matthew passed the phone to Quinn and kissed her forehead and mouthed I'll be right back.

"Hey baby."

"Hey yourself"

Both girls are truly happy, it was visible to their voice.

"How was Bern?"

"It was crazy, we never had enough time to travel around but everything was fine."

"You behaved?"

"Of course I did."

"Good, do you think we can make it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Long distance relationship?"

"I guess we can, we just need to be open with one another, no secrets or anything."

"Yeah, absolute transparency" Quinn remembers those words from the brunette.

"Yeah, Quinn we're still young, we have a lot time."

"I know but we don't see each other, you're so far."

Rachel felt the frustration in Quinn's voice, but right now they can't do anything. They need to finish their education and see if they can survive the distance.

"I know baby, but things will pan out the way it should be"

"Okay, I love you Rach"

"I love you too, give my kisses to Isabella and tell my dads I love them"

"Okay, bye Rach"

"Bye Q"

Quinn felt relaxed upon hearing her girlfriend's voice over the phone, she just needed to trust Rachel with their relationship.

Rachel on the other side of the world felt the same, and let fate decide on what is in store for their relationship. She knew that they were still young and people change when they get older, she doesn't want to promise anything to Quinn, she wanted to make a promise if she's sure to herself that she can fulfil it.

Rachel makes sure there is no time wasted everyday, every morning she sent a good morning message to Quinn and her dads. Things are a lot easier, Quinn and Rachel got used to communicating everyday, weekdays thru email and weekends thru phone.

Quinn sent a picture of Isabella every Saturday so Rachel wouldn't miss anything about her daughter, Matthew and Lucas hired a nanny to take care of Bella while she goes to school, and sometimes Puck's mother comes over to help the nanny. It was a mutual decision that Puck will pay the half for the nanny which Rachel profusely refused but Quinn talked some sense into her girlfriend and eventually agreed on why she needed to do that.

It's been almost three months since Quinn gave birth and it's been five months since Rachel left. Holiday season is fast approaching and until this time she doesn't know if Rachel is coming home or not, Rachel told her that she will try her best to come home. The original plan was both of Rachel fathers will be in Zurich to celebrate their family Christmas there but things change because she was there now. And it pains her just the mere thought of Rachel not coming home for the holidays.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **As promised:) Big Shout to John thanks dude. To all the readers thanks much you guys, it's kind off amazing that you guys sorta kind off like the story!

**Chapter 6**

Quinn waited but still there was no Rachel, she doesn't even know what happened to her girlfriend. She's dead worried but she doesn't want to show it to Matthew and Lucas. She knew the couple was worried too, but they never discussed it; the last time they heard from Rachel was three weeks ago and the brunette did not say anything about going home which made her dads worry more. They tried to contact her but to no avail they can't get through; they can't call the school because they knew Rachel went with Louella to Austria for a few days.

Quinn woke to a familiar voice but she wanted to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. She slowly stood up from her bed and walked towards the nursery room. When she entered the room her heart filled with emotion; seeing the brunette holding her daughter is the most amazing feeling that she has ever experienced. Quinn tried not to make any noise and sat near Rachel while she eyed the two curiously.

Rachel felt mixed emotions seeing Isabella for the first time and when her fathers opened the door earlier she immediately dropped her luggage, hugged them and asked where the baby was. Before she went directly to the baby girl's room she said to her fathers "I will explain later" and ascended to her destination. When she entered the room she saw the object of her affection lying in the bed sleeping soundly. She gave Quinn an affectionate look and went inside the nursery. Isabella was awake and she carried her out from the crib, she looked at the time and it was 7:30 am. Rachel make a quick calculation on how she was going to budget her time; for the last 5 days all she wanted to do was crawl in her bed and sleep. She looked the baby in her arms and Bella smiled at her. Rachel's heart's melted when she saw the baby smiling at her.

For all the months since she left McKinley she never sang any songs at all and she wanted to sing for the baby to lull her back to sleep. Rachel started humming 'Mary had a little lamb'; after a few minutes Isabella fell back asleep. When she's sure that the baby was asleep she turned around to face Quinn who's sitting on the couch. She already felt Quinn's presence earlier but she didn't bother to look because she wanted to give her full attention to Bella.

"Hi" Rachel said while walking towards the blonde and sat beside her.

"Hey" Quinn said while looking at Rachel's eyes.

Before Quinn could say something else Rachel pulled her into a very searing yet passionate kiss. Quinn was caught off guard but was able to regain her composure right away; she responded to the kiss in a more intense manner. Rachel bit her lower lip and the brunette's tongue was trying to make an entrance that Quinn gladly accepted. For another minute there was a collision of tongues. Both girl's heads were spinning with intense passion and love for each other. Rachel pulled away to gasp some air and Quinn did the same.

"I miss you" Rachel broke her silence and nuzzled her head to Quinn's neck, pressing a gentle kiss on the blonde's delicate skin.

Quinn adjusted her position to be more comfortable, wrapped her arms around Rachel and placed a wet kiss on her cheek.

"I thought you were not coming home."

"Almost not" Rachel said tiredly.

Quinn felt Rachel's tired body against her and she looked at the brunette, her eyes looking gloomy.

Rachel tried to talk but she didn't have enough energy to do so. She looked at Quinn who's intently looking back at her and she just said "I love you."

"I love you too" Quinn replied. "You need to sleep Rach, you looked so tired."

"Will you be here when I wake up? "

"I'm not going anywhere; we need to transfer to my bed so you can sleep comfortably."

Quinn just received a slight nod from Rachel and helped her girlfriend to stand up. When Rachel felt the bed she immediately collapsed and brought Quinn on top of her. She let out a small giggle and said "As much I want to do this, I just can't. Let me take a rest for while" she placed a chaste kiss on Quinn's lips and dropped off to sleep.

Quinn tucked Rachel in, when she's sure that the brunette was comfortable she placed a soft kiss on her lips and left quietly to help Matthew and Lucas. Quinn went to the nursery room first before heading downstairs. She made sure that her daughter was sleeping soundly; she went back to her own room to get the baby alarm. Quinn glanced at her sleeping girlfriend, placed a gentle kiss on the brunette's cheek and left the room silently.

Quinn didn't notice that she was smiling all throughout until she reached the quite big kitchen and heard Matthew and Lucas' voice talking about Rachel.

"She's sleeping" she said. The couple looked at her worriedly.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked.

"We don't know yet" Lucas told her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Rachel doesn't look good at all" Matthew said with a worried tone.

"She looked exhausted, that's why I let her sleep first."

"That's one, but my gut is telling me something happened" the lawyer said.

Quinn looked at the couple and revisited her earlier vision. Well, Rachel looked really tired and sad but she thought it's only because of jetlag. She tried to ignore the nasty things running inside her head.

"We know Rachel, I'm sure everything is fine" Quinn said eventually.

Quinn and the Berry's tried everything to avoid the topic; every now and then one of the three went up to check on the sleeping brunette and Quinn's baby. No one bothered to wake up Rachel for lunch; they decided that the girl needed sleep more than food.

Around 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon while everyone was in the living room playing with Bella they heard someone rang the doorbell. The three adults looked at each other confusedly. They didn't expect any visitors at this time, for they never invited anyone to join them.

Lucas stood up to open the door but before he did so he looked thru the peephole and was surprised to see who was behind the door. Lucas opened the door and greeted the unexpected visitor.

"Good Afternoon" Lucas said.

"Good Afternoon, Mr. Berry?" the tall guy said.

"Yes I am, Lucas Berry" Lucas shook the hands of the two officers.

"Can we come in Mr. Berry?"

"Of course" Lucas fully opened the door and let them in.

Matthew stood up to greet their visitors and looked at his husband curiously when he saw the FBI agents walking inside.

"Is there something wrong?" Matthew asked.

"I'm not sure" Lucas said.

"My name is Matthew Berry" Matthew introduced himself.

"My name is Alyssa Duval. This is my partner Zandro Allister and we are from the FBI."

Quinn looked at the FBI agents, first with the girl who introduced herself as Alyssa then Zandro. She couldn't tell for sure what these people wanted with them. She picked up Bella and excused herself to go up stairs to let Bella sleep. Quinn also wanted to check on how Rachel was doing.

Lucas motioned the two to sit down on the love seat.

"What can we do for you?" Lucas said with his lawyer kind of voice.

"We are here for your daughter, Rachel Samantha Berry" Alyssa said.

Alyssa looked at the couple across from them. When they rescued Berry the girl never said anything, but they found out that the brunette's parents were hot shot personalities, as it was not that hard to find out.

"What about our daughter?" Matthew asked, trying to cool himself down.

"Listen, we know that she just arrived this morning after two weeks of no communication" Zandro said.

"How would you know that?" Lucas asked in a very formal voice.

"We brought her here this morning Dr. Berry" Alyssa said.

Matthew and Lucas looked at each other and said nothing.

"I'm quite sure you don't yet know what happened to her" Zandro instigated.

"What do you mean? Happened to her?" it was Quinn.

Right after she put Bella to sleep she just stayed at Rachel's side for a few minutes and decided to go downstairs when she heard her girlfriend's name. She couldn't help but to get curious.

"I'm sorry, it should be family members only" Zandro implied.

"No she can stay, she's our daughter's girlfriend" Matthew insisted.

"Okay then" Quinn sat beside Lucas and Matthew.

"When is the last time you talked to your daughter?" Alyssa asks.

"About a couple week ago" Matthew said.

"And what did she tell you then?"

"That she's with Louella. At that time they were heading to Austria, and then the phone was cut off."

"Did you try to talk to her again?"

"We tried but to no avail. We couldn't get through to her" Lucas said.

"And then what happened?" Zandro asks.

"We received a message from her saying that she will be home soon, that we don't have to worry about anything, and that everything is fine" Matthew said while looking at Quinn. They never said a word to Quinn due to Rachel's request.

"That was last week and now she's here, she arrived early this morning with her luggage. She told us she will explain later." Matthew said.

"I see" Alyssa said.

"Dr. Berry, Atty. Berry and…" Alyssa looked at the blonde because she wasn't able to remember her name.

"It's Quinn" the blonde said softly.

"We found Rachel and Louella in Morocco last week" Alyssa said. There was no easy way to break it to the brunette's parents.

"What? Wh—at do you mean in Morocco? My daughter's never been there. She went with her friend to Austria before she headed back here" Lucas said in a very calm voice. He needs to be strong, whatever that is.

Quinn gasped with the information and looked at Matthew who looked flabbergasted himself.

"We are aware of that Mr. Berry. When Rachel and her friend made it to Vienna they stumbled into something. Your daughter and her friend have good hearts; they helped someone that they thought needed their help but it was a trap. This time of the year white slavery is on the move. They are targeting students who are going back to their hometown and sell them to the highest bidder." Alyssa said.

Quinn stood up and said "you're not telling us that Rachel was there, no, no you must be mistaken" again Quinn looked at Alyssa and saw the agent's apologetic look. Quinn felt her world sink down; the mere thought of Rachel fighting for her life with those minions already felt like being stabbed by a dagger.

Matthew stood up to calm the blonde down, what's important was Rachel is with them right now. That was all that mattered now.

"Please continue" Lucas instructed the two agents.

"Louella and Rachel were being transported to the group safe house when it was safe to travel. They made a lot of stops; they stopped in the country and collected more girls until we tracked them down with the help of local police and Interpol. In Casablanca we had a nasty encounter with the group. We were able to save most of the girls but some of them were able to escape and the others remained abducted." Zandro looked at the 3 pairs of critical eyes before he continued. "Two of the other girls were your daughter and Louella. We lost track of them until last week. Rachel was able to contact the emergency number 177 and it's a good thing your daughter knew how to speak French and clearly understand everything that the police said."

Lucas touched his forehead, for it felt as if it would explode. He couldn't imagine how their daughter made it but he was very much grateful she did. Matthew eyes formed in tears, he felt the arm of his husband on his shoulder and silently squeezed it with his own. Though Quinn looked flustered, she didn't even know what to say; clearly she expected the worst but it seemed that Rachel made it, but they are not sure not until Rachel woke up.

"How did you know all this?" Quinn asks inquisitively.

"We have one undercover agent within their group". Zandro said.

"When we reached their hideout, we already heard various gunshots and loud screaming inside. We already expected the worst, but just as we were about to open the door we heard running footsteps. It was the remaining girls with your daughter and her friend; they were covered in blood and had guns in their hands. When they realized who we were they looked at us and threw throw the guns down. Your daughter said "they are all up on the second landing". Your daughter seldom talked to anyone; she only talked with Louella when they were being brought to the hospital. They stayed at the general hospital in Morocco and they were transported back to Vienna per your daughter's request." Alyssa said eyeing the brunette's parents.

"What happened to Louella?" Quinn asked.

"Louella was the same as Rachel; they only talked to each other when we reached Vienna. One of our agents escorted Louella to her home in Sussex but Rachel wanted to make sure that her friend was safe, so she decided to travel to England also. Rachel and Louella are the only two people who weren't afraid. If you could just see the other girls, all of them are experiencing trauma. They will be big witnesses in this case. That's why we are here; we need to get her statement. We thought that since she's home now she'll probably tell us what really happened during their abduction." Alyssa said hopeful.

"Agent Alyssa, you just told us that our only daughter got kidnapped and you guys were able to rescue them and you want our daughter's statement for that matter. If our daughter wanted to talk about it she would've the first time she got a chance but if she didn't say anything to you guys it only means one thing. She doesn't want to talk about it" Lucas said while getting up from his chair.

"I believe we are through here, I don't want to be rude but it would be better if you would leave now" Quinn said irately.

"You don't understand we need your daughter's statement to finish this case. Rachel and Louella are the only persons who can help us, we already have some statements but we need your daughter's statement to solidify everything. Mr. Berry, I know you understand what we need and I may not know exactly how you feel right now but we need your daughter's help to put those bastards behind bars. Rachel isn't 18 yet and she can't decide on her own right now but we need to put an end to this, we don't want other girls to experience what your daughter experienced in the hands of those devils." Alyssa said.

Quinn looked at Alyssa. The lady was about 5'8 tall and had a very athletic body with a very prominent feature. She's not pure American though it seems she's like Ameriasian; her presence was very commanding. On the other hand Zandro looked like a boxer with a happy face.

Matthew, Lucas and Quinn looked at each other and all nodded silently.

"We will try to talk to her, but if our daughter does not want to talk about it we are not pushing her, understood?" Matthew asked the two agents.

"Fair enough," Alyssa said and continued "you can contact me at this number." She handed over her card "are you still going to send your daughter to TASIS after this tragedy?" Alyssa momentarily.

"We don't know yet, we will let her decide. Why did you ask?" Lucas said eventually.

"Just if she decided to go back we will need to contact the school to double up their security. Most of the Americans who have money to send their daughter somewhere always choose that school." Zandro said.

"Thank you Agent Duval and Agent Allister" the Berrys said.

"Happy Holidays" the two agents said.

"Happy Holidays" the Berry and Quinn said in unison.

Lucas and Matthew walked the two agents to their door and one more time said their goodbyes.

The couple reclaimed their previous position and Quinn sat down across from them.

"We will wait until Rachel tells us about this; we are not going to pressure her regarding this issue. I've asked Agent Duval to send us Rachel's medical test results. I want to make sure that she's okay." Matthew said.

Lucas looked at Quinn who's very much silent; Quinn felt the gaze of Lucas and looked at him.

'You know that she's okay right?" Lucas assured her.

"Yeah I know it's just that why does she experience these things? It's our entire fault. If only all of us in Glee were nice to her she would not have decided to leave in the first place" Quinn said sadly.

"Oh honey, it isn't anyone's fault. Things happen because they do, there are reasons for everything. All we have to do now is to be strong for Rachel, especially you sweetie. Bella is there, she can easily cope for sure."

"What about the agents?" Quinn asked.

"We will get there, one step at a time." Matthew and Lucas stood up and hugged her.

"We love you Quinn, you know that right?"

"Yes, I love you too; you guys were more than a father than my own father."

Quinn went back up stairs to check on her two ladies. When she reached her room and found an empty bed she almost panicked. She went immediately to the nursery room and to her relief she saw Rachel and her daughter playing on the bed beside the crib. Quinn walked to the bed, sat down beside the brunette and kissed her which the brunette responded immediately.

"Hi."

"Hello."

"Aren't you hungry? You've been sleeping for more than 10 hours."

"I'm aware" Rachel just glanced at Quinn and gave her full attention to the little blonde in her arms.

"She has Puck's eyes, but she looks like you."

"Yeah, Rach are you okay?"

Rachel stiffened at the question but she remained calm, she didn't want the blonde to get worried.

"I'm just tired" she smiled weakly.

"So I need to feed you then you can go back to sleep."

"What about Bella?"

"Puck will be here any minute, today is Friday. This is his time for his daughter."

"I see" she gave Bella to Quinn and stood up.

"I'll just take a shower and I'll go down."

Rachel eyed Quinn while the blonde was changing her daughter. When Quinn put Bella down in her crib she's about to turn around when she felt two strong arms around her waist.

"I miss you Quinn."

Quinn turned around and looked at Rachel. Rachel's eyes were sad, the bubbly brunette whose eyes are always smiling is long gone, since this morning she can't see that look in her girlfriend's eyes anymore.

"I miss you too" she placed a soft kiss to the brunette lips but the soft kiss goes deeper, Quinn pulled Rachel closer so she could have a proper access to the brunette. Rachel's right hands were touching Quinn's lower body while the other was tracing her jaw line. Quinn felt that she's going to explode but it's not the right time to do this, she can't be weak right now. Before she can even pull away Rachel already did to breathe some air and placed a chaste kiss on her lips.

"I love you, but I need to take that shower" Quinn was already laughing when Rachel left the nursery room; she knew that her girlfriend felt the same need that she felt.

Rachel looked at herself in her bathroom mirror and said to herself "everything will be okay, I'm home now". When she entered the shower she was already crying, she felt all her energy leave her body. She doesn't even know how she did it; if it weren't for Monica, both of them would be already dead. If Louella and Monica weren't there she didn't even know if she could made it to this day seeing Isabella, Quinn and her fathers. She stayed alive because of them; she didn't want to die without seeing Isabella. She saw what happened to the other girls and she said to herself that she'd rather die than be used by those bastards. Rachel didn't notice that she'd been punching the wall with her clenched fist until she saw a red liquid dripping from her hands, she silently cursed herself.

Rachel stayed for a little while more under the shower until she heard her lover's voice outside the door.

"Just a sec."

Quinn was waiting patiently outside the door, Puck already picked up Bella so that's why she decided to check on Rachel.

When Rachel opened the door Quinn was leaning against the wall.

When Quinn saw Rachel in her bathrobe she scanned the brunette and saw that the brunette was crying due to her puffy eyes and hoarse voice. Rachel looked at her and gave her a weak smile; Quinn looked at Rachel's hand and saw it was covered by a towel. Unconsciously she grabbed Rachel's hand and looked at it.

"Honey, what happened?" Quinn voiced out her concern. Quinn pulled Rachel towards the brunette's couch. She then grabbed the first aid kit inside the bathroom's medicine cabinet.

Rachel eyed Quinn's every movement and suddenly she asked the blonde "Do you love me Quinn?"

Quinn looked at Rachel, confused but she answered anyway "Yes Rachel, I love you more than you know."

"What if I was broken, would still love me?"

Quinn felt a surge of panic with their conversation but she would be patient. She continued to clean the wound while answering the brunette's question.

"Even if you're broken, even if you can't sing anymore, even you can't talk; I would still love you Rachel Berry."

"Why?"

"Because I was stupid not to know that I had feelings for you, and that's why I've been awful to you to cover it up." Quinn took Rachel's face in both hands and said "Look at me."

Rachel looked at Quinn and she saw the overwhelming emotion in the blonde's eyes.

"I love you, I'll be damned if I will lose you" Quinn place a reassuring kiss on the brunette's lips. She continued to dress Rachel's knuckles.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For loving me. Why don't you come with me to Switzerland?" Rachel asked eventually.

Quinn was surprised by the brunette's question, but she answered in a manner that Rachel would not feel disappointed.

"Baby, you know I want to be with you, right?" Rachel only nodded.

"But you also know that I can't" Rachel looked at Quinn's eyes.

"If you're thinking about the money, you don't have to worry about that."

"Rach, it's not about that. Your family has already given me a lot that I could wish for. I don't want to abuse your family's kindness over me."

"So what's the problem then?"

"I can't take away Bella from Puck, he's the father and I want Puck to be a part of Bella's life." Quinn looked at Rachel and saw the latter was about to cry. Quinn got up from the floor and sat beside Rachel. She took the diva's hands and interlaced their fingers together.

"Do you understand?"

Rachel looked at Quinn and she knew any moment she was about to cry but she tried not too, at least not in front of Quinn.

"Yeah I do, I think we need to go down now, I'll just change". Rachel looked at the back of her hands and it was neatly done. Before she stood up she looked at Quinn and placed a chaste kiss on blonde's lips.

Quinn eyed her girlfriend; she will be patient until the girl speaks up about what happened. When she was about to leave the room she heard the phone rang. It was a ring tone of Keep Holding On, the song that they used to sing before sectionals. Quinn was contemplating if she would answer it; her curiosity overpowered her and took the phone from Rachel's purse. She looked at the screen and saw Louella's name.

Quinn knocks on Rachel's bathroom door and said "Rach, Louella's on the phone? Shall I answer?"

"Go ahead; I'll be out in a few"

"Hello."

"Hi, is this Quinn?"

"Yeah"

"Oh thank God."

"Look Quinn, I've been trying to call Rachel since this morning and hoping you would answer" Louella said in her heavy British accent.

"Why?"

"I needed to talk to you about Rachel" Louella said worriedly.

"Is there any problem?"

"Well, it depends."

"Rachel is about to come out from her bathroom. I can't talk behind her back, you know that."

"Blimey! Does she tell you anything?"

"No, not yet"

"Okay, if she's still not talking by tomorrow I will talk on her behalf. She's been like that since….." Louella became silent.

"Since what?" Quinn asks worriedly.

"Never mind, can you do me a favor? Let me know if she tells you something."

"O—okay, I'll just give you a call" Quinn will find Louella's number when Rachel is asleep.

"Yeah."

Rachel came out from her bathroom wearing a pair of pajamas and a pink paper t-shirt and saw Quinn still talking on the phone. She felt disarray upon seeing her girlfriend having a bedazzled look all over her face.

"Louella, Rachel is here; I'll pass the phone to her."

"Okay, Bye Quinn."

"Bye." Quinn handed the phone to Rachel and said "I'll be right down" and kissed the brunette's cheek.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"How you been?"

"I didn't tell them anything yet."

"Why?"

"I don't know how to."

"It was self defense, Rach and you know that!" Louella said.

"It was, but I still feel his gaze."

"Rach, you have to tell them, you owe them that. If you can't do it, I'll go right there and tell them myself."

Rachel felt the determination in her friend's voice.

"No, I will tell them, I just don't how. What will I say, hey guys, I was kidnapped and was able to escape because I killed a man and the FBI says it was self defense because I was protecting myself and my friends. Everything is fine now; I just have to give my whole statement, so it will be fine." Rachel said dejectedly.

"Bugger! Berry, listen to me, you've got to tell them! It will be easier; you don't have to carry that burden alone."

"Ell, how can I not carry that burden? The man that I shot, he had a family. He had two children whose ages are 8 and 10 who needed their father, but what did I do? I pulled the trigger, he shouldn't die. If only they made it to the hospital on time he would still be alive!" Rachel was already shouting.

"It will still be the same Rachel and you know that! If he survived that gun shot he'll end up in prison because of the ton of evidence against him. It's not your bloody fault, it was his time to die and you just saved his family from a prolonged misery if he ended up in prison for the rest of his good for nothing life! Now go talk to your family Rachel, you need them more than anything" Louella still tried to convince Rachel.

Rachel became silent after that long statement from her friend. Louella had a point, she always had a point and sometimes she hated it. She already proved that Louella is a very good friend who sticks to her no matter what, its friendship and Monica wherever she is, she knows she's happy now.

"Rach, are you still there?"

"Yeah, I just remember…"

"Monica" Ell cut her off.

"Yeah"

"Rach, Monica made a choice to save us all and it was very noble."

"I know. I wanted to visit her family in Indonesia. They deserved to know what happened to her."

"But I think the FBI will do that."

"Yes they will, but I think it would be better if I told them myself. For the last two weeks that we were there she became our friends Ell, I can't imagine that she'd been there for over a year and she survived those awful times."

"Rach, everyone had their own motivation why they wanted to stay alive considering the amount of cruelty that they were facing every time. For Monica it was her family, for you its Quinn, Bella and your fathers, you see Rach everyone has their own reason. Monica died a hero Rach and we will always remember her no matter what."

"The more I need to see her family to tell them that."

They fell both silent.

"Okay I'll go with you then."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, can we do this after the New Year?"

"Ell that's too long, two days from now it's already Christmas. We would have to wait one more week for that."

"So what do you suggest we do then?"

"The day after Christmas we'll go there, and then head back before New Year's Eve to be with our families."

"Okay, that makes sense. I'll just have to ask my parents to let me go."

"Okay, I need to do the same. I need to go down now; I'm kind of starving."

"You have very impeccable timing, Berry."

"I know" she said while smiling.

"Seriously Rach tell them, it will help you to cope."

"I will" she said finally.

"Good then, I'll keep you posted. Bye Berry and Happy Holidays."

"Happy Holidays McDermott."

When she tossed the phone on her bed she heard footsteps outside her door. The first person she could think of was Quinn, but shrugged off the idea of Quinn hearing the conversation, but it came back again when she saw the door was slightly open. Rachel took a deep breath and decided it's now or never.

When Rachel arrived on the first landing, she noticed that the whole house was decorated with Christmas adornments. It's been a tradition in their family to celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. She heard her family's voices in the kitchen; she walked towards them and saw Quinn and her fathers discussing serious matters. She tried to make a sound to catch their attention.

Everyone looked in unison at Rachel. Matthew was able to recover first and pulled Rachel into a tight embrace and kissed her forehead, which Lucas did the same.

Quinn walked towards Rachel and gave her a kiss.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"So everyone is here, we can start our dinner then" Lucas announced.

Quinn and Rachel's fathers prepared the dining table, she tried to help but her father told her not to, she just sat on the high chair and eyed as everyone else moved. When everything was prepared Quinn called Rachel to come out from the kitchen. It wasn't a bad dinner at all, each one of them sharing their stories; she told them about Lacrosse, her new school and friends. Rachel has a gut feeling that her fathers and Quinn were waiting for some more, she tried to avoid the inevitable but she just can't. Louella was right, she needs to do this.

After they finished all the dishes, Rachel and Quinn walked hand in hand towards the living room and sat across Lucas and Mathew who were watching Moulin Rouge.

"Can we talk now?" Rachel said.

The three others looked at each other and smiled at Rachel. Lucas turned off the TV and settled comfortably beside Matthew while his husband's arm was placed around his shoulder.

Quinn did the same; she grabbed Rachel's hands and interlaced them together with hers. Rachel's hands were cold; Quinn tried to rub them to make some warmth.

"Okay baby, what do you want to talk about?" Matthew said patiently.

"I killed someone" Rachel finally said.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N : **To all those readers who can write/read French perfectly my apologies for using the language if it is not accurately

translated. I just used online translation for that matter, though I enclosed it on open and close parenthesis what I

meant in English . Again big shout to John Knighwak for being my P/R

**Chapter 7**

Lucas, Matthew and Quinn looked at each other in disbelief on what they had just heard.

"I killed someone" Rachel said again.

Rachel looked at her fathers trying to gauge their expression but she's too exhausted to focus, if she can not continue talking she's not sure if she will be able to do this again. She took a deep breath, pulled out her hand from Quinn and clasped them together.

"Honey, tell us what happened?" Lucas's urged their daughter to continue.

Before Rachel continued she looked at Quinn, who sat besides her patiently waiting for her to continue.

"Three weeks ago, you already knew that we were going to Austria right?" her parents just nodded.

"Supposed to go there at least 2 weeks before Christmas but we finished school early so they let us leave earlier. We arrived in Vienna around 9 am, we checked in first then we wandered around the city, we got busy so we lost track of time, then it was already 10 pm. Louella and I decided to walk back to the hotel. While walking we saw a young girl being harassed by two men, we looked around to ask for help but before I knew Louella was already there protecting the girl, she's about 2 years younger than me. I helped Ell, it happened so fast daddy, next thing I knew we were inside the van with other girls who were crying. There were about 8 of us there; the goons were talking in a language that I couldn't comprehend." Rachel paused for a while to take a deep breath.

Quinn can't bear the pain in her lover's voice and eyes, once again she took Rachel's hands and clasped them tightly, and she wanted Rachel to know that no matter what she will be there by her side.

"We made a lot of stops, we don't know exactly where we were, oh I can't do this" Rachel said about to cry.

Lucas stood up, knelt down in front of Rachel and took her face with both his hands.

"Baby, listen to me. You have to tell us everything so then we will be able to help you" Lucas encouraged his daughter to continue.

Rachel just nodded and tried to recollect that faithful event of her life.

_**Three weeks earlier**_

"Ell, do you think we can survive this?" Rachel said fearfully. They were in the large dim room with everyone.

"Have faith, we can get out of this mess" Louella retorted.

It's been three days since they were kidnapped and they just kept traveling, nobody knew anything. The only thing that they knew was every time they stopped there was another girl added to their number.

It's a good thing that one of the guards was a female; probably they could talk some sense to that girl and help them out.

Everything seems to be quiet and having quiet time for the last three days is not always good. Either they will hear some girls crying or gun shots.

It was like Day 5 already and again they were traveling; they are like a 5 van convoy carrying young girls, when Rachel saw some of the girls she felt more terrified. They've talked to some of them and found out that they were about to go home to their homeland. Some are students and the others are just on vacation.

Everyone was whispering to each other when the Van stopped, which cause them to collide with each other.

"Why did we stop?" Rachel asked the lady guard whose name is Monica.

Monica just looked at them and said "Be quiet".

Rachel heard commotion outside the vehicle and they heard gun shots all over the place and people shouting. Like FBI, Interpol and local police, people are talking in foreign languages, she tried her best to listen and she has a clearer audible range.

"It was French" she told Louella. Louella did the same and they heard a lady said "You are under arrest for white slavery".

Louella and Rachel looked at Monica who was trying to unlock the door from the inside; after a few attempts it was successfully opened. Monica instructed all the girls to run outside the Van and look for a safer place to cover their selves.

Agent Alyssa Duval heard the commotion somewhere at the back of the 5 van convoy; she went to the back to check for herself. When the driver saw her she saw the panic in his eyes but didn't move. Duval was very much alert as she reached the back of the Van. Before she could even take a look at what is inside the driver maneuvered the vehicle and drove away fast.

Inside the van there were still 5 more girls, it was Rachel, Louella and three Asians who looked traumatized already.

"I told you to get out! Why you didn't listen to me?" Monica exclaimed to all of them.

"We—are did try but there's no time" one the Asian girl says.

"Where are we going now?" Rachel asks in a very terrified voice.

"Casablanca."

"We're in Morocco, which explains the French language" Louella said.

"Oh God, we've been traveling for 5 days from Austria down here, we are near Africa" Rachel said.

"Why did you help us?" Louella asks Monica

Monica just looked at the girl and blankly stared at the wall of the vehicle. For more than a year that she's being doing undercover, this is just the first time she got tired of it. She can't bear to see the pain in the eyes of those girls that they kidnapped. She missed her family, but she can't contact them, one more week and everything will be through. She already gave all the information that Agent Duval and Alistair needs and it's all up to them. In about 2 hours they will be at their safe house in Casablanca. The bidding will start in three days, the FBI needed to move before hand or they can't get these girls out.

Rachel looked at Monica, she wanted to know more about the girl, and she felt terrified for Monica. She's very much aware that when they reached their destination Monica will be questioned.

"I want to see Bella, Ell" Rachel said.

"We have to get out of here first."

"What if we can't, what will happen to us?"

"Don't you dare say that, we will get out of here, no matter what" Louella assured her.

"I'd rather die than to be used by those animals" Rachel said, referring to the goons.

"It will never happen Berry, we need to regain our strength, take a rest" Louella instructed Rachel.

Louella knew that Rachel was terrified so is she; she's just trying to be tough because one of them needed to be or else they could not survive this one.

The van stopped and after a few moments the door flew open and someone asked them to get out.

Rachel and Louella eyed Monica while the older girl was being pulled away from them. They knew something bad would happen they needed to be ready.

For the last two days Rachel felt her world was going to collapse; she saw what they did to other girls and just the mere thought of being in their place she could not bear that anymore. She and Louella did not sleep anymore; they wanted to be strong and wide awake.

"You two, you need to sleep" Monica said from the far corner of the room.

"We can't, we want to be ready" Louella said.

"Ready for what?" Monica asked.

Rachel stood up from a very uncomfortable bed and walked towards Monica.

Monica looked at her and gave a weak smile.

The bruises on Monica's face were very visible, she wanted to touch them but Monica avoided her hand. Rachel sat down beside Monica and looked at her.

"Why are you here? She asked.

"Long story."

"I'm willing to listen."

"I will bore you."

"Monica, as much as I want to talk, I love to listen" Rachel encouraged.

"You really won't stop, would you?"

"Nope."

"Monica, if I were you I will tell her, she won't stop" Louella said while joining them.

"Okay."

"I've been here for more than a year now" Monica started.

Louella and Rachel looked at each other silently.

"Why didn't you try to escape" Louella asked.

"I can't, I have a job to fulfill."

"You call this a job?" Rachel asked surprisingly.

"You guys would not understand and I can't tell you even if I wanted too, I just can't" Monica said tiredly.

Sometime she wished it was done differently but it's kind of too late already, there is no backing out and this was almost finished, soon she would be seeing her family.

Louella and Rachel stopped asking questions, they knew that Monica would not say a word anymore; they just felt confused in all of this.

"You guys will need every ounce of your energy tomorrow if you want to get out of here" Monica said.

It was the day that Monica's been preparing, their "Big Boss" will be here any minute now and she needed to device a plan and she couldn't do it alone. She looked at Louella and Rachel and contemplated if she would ask the two girls for help.

"Louella" Monica called the brunette.

Louella looked at Monica then Rachel. Rachel just nodded.

"Yes?"

"I need your help; if you want to leave this place I need you to help me."

Louella looked at Rachel. Rachel kind of understands that she needed to get near the two ladies.

"What help do you want us to do?" Louella asked eventually.

Monica pulled out a blueprint of the building, before she continued she looked at the door and to the other three Asian ladies in the room that's walking towards them.

"Okay, we are currently located here" Monica pointed to the second floor of the villa.

"There are five rooms on the second landing, this room is the middle of the hallway, there are three more rooms across and the master suite is just beside this room" Monica looked at the girl first before she continued "there are other girls in this house. I'm not really sure how many there are but what I heard last night they were able to get 4 more" Monica tried to explain everything to the five girls.

"Okay, so what we are going to do now?" Rachel asked worriedly.

"In about 2 hours all of you will be called outside, you will be transferred to the Hotel to start the bidding" Monica saw the panic in the girl's eyes.

"But we will not allow that to happen."

"How we are supposed to do that?" one of the three Asian girls asked.

"When you guys go down, I will be there at the back, there are still 6 guards left in this house. We are six so I think we can take them down".

"I'm not very confident that we can take them down, it will be a long shot even though I have my conducive training in self defense I'm not quite sure about this I mean the 3 guards they are so huge and…" Rachel tried to remember the goon's faces but to no avail she can't put it into words.

"And look sooooooooo good looking, that's why I can't take my eyes off them" Louella finished the sentence for Rachel while rolling her eyes. Louella's statement solicited giggles from her new found friends.

"This is it guys no turning back" Monica said.

"Yeah, I just hope I can really get out alive here, I want to see Bella, Quinn and my fathers" Rachel said hopefully.

After like an hour they heard a knock on the door, Monica wasn't there anymore like she said. They just waited for the situation to unfold before their eyes.

The five girls went downstairs with one of the guards behind their back. Their attentiveness was impeccable. They needed to be ready. When they arrived at the first landing there were other girls who sat on the living room and looked very terrified.

Rachel tried to calm herself and not panic, she looked at Louella and the other three Asian girls, all of them were waiting for the signal from Monica. She looked around trying to find how many guards were there. There are two standing near the main door, another one is behind Monica, another one located at the foot of the stairs and she was sure that there are also lookouts.

Rachel was not really a religious person, they are Jewish but they are not practicing. She remembered the time that she tried to talk to a priest to get another point of view from a different religion. She knows that Catholics believe in many saints and angels. They believe in one God, it's just that they have a different way in worshipping. She was taught that praying will do no harm, she looked at Louella whose eyes were closed and the other girls were doing the same. She tried to concentrate to pray also, she prayed that if she can't get out alive here she wanted her fathers to be happy and move on as well for Quinn and Isabella. When she opened her eyes she immediately looked at Monica and Louella who nodded in unison.

Monica turned back to her "comrade" and asked him "Can you come with me for a while?"

"I can't leave my post, neither can you" the guy said grumpily.

"Yeah well you can't but I can" with that Monica swing her knee into the man's groin, when the guy fell on his knees she took out her gun and smashed his face hard. When she's sure the guy passed out she asked the other girl to tie him up who immediately followed her orders. Monica looked at the other girls who were doing the same, she ran upstairs and looked at the two girls whom she had grown fond of in a very short time and said "you take them out; the FBI will be here any minute now."

Rachel looked at Monica and nodded, it was too fast but they got the signal from Monica they moved very fast. Louella and the one Asian girl attacked the man near the foot of the stairs while Rachel and the other 2 Asians attacked the two near the main door not wasting any time. They hit the goons in their very sensitive body parts; the other girls who were sitting earlier were hysterical already. Monica just commanded them to tie up the bad guys who had passed out.

When everything seemed to be quiet they heard gun shots and a shattering sound at the second landing. Rachel felt terrified for Monica, she was there alone. "God help her" she prayed silently and focused on the pressing matters at hand.

She looked at her surroundings and found something was missing. She counted the guys and it's only 3, she felt a surge of panic.

"Louella" she called out.

"Yeah" she said while standing up from the man that had just been restrained.

"Other guy is missing."

"What?"

"The other guy is missing" she said while looking attentively around her surroundings. Unconsciously Rachel reached down on one side of the guy who was currently tied up and pulled out his gun, when the girls saw what she did they did the same.

Rachel started walking up the stairs to help Monica while looking at everyone else. She looked at the other Asian girls who looked like they were about to pass out, when she traced the vision of the one Asian girl looking upstairs. She spun back forward, ready to shoot while running up but before she knew it everyone heard a gun shot from the second landing, and Rachel saw Monica covered in blood.

The other guy who was missing fell down but before they knew it he pulled the trigger and shot Monica again, who fell weakly to her knees. The man aimed the gun at Rachel but before he even had a chance to pull the trigger she had already fired the gun in her hand while looking directly into his eyes. She never withdrew her gaze until the man closed his eyes. Rachel was shaking but they needed to leave. Louella was calling her name and together they ascended upstairs to check on Monica.

Monica was feeling weaker every minute; she knew that she would not last much longer. When she felt her body being grabbed she felt an unbearable pain.

"C'mon Monica, get up" Louella said while caressing her face.

Monica looked at Louella and smiled weakly.

"I won't last, yo—u ha-ve to go without me."

"No, we can't do that. You'll be fine, we just have to get you at the hospital on time" Rachel said while moving Monica's weakened body from her lap to Louella.

Rachel searched the room and looked for any means of communication that she can use. Every time she opened a room's door the girls inside were screaming, curled up in the far corner of the room.

"We'll be fine" Rachel said in assurance. She looked the man's lifeless body near the foot of the bed; fortunately she found a cellular phone in his jacket pocket.

She searched the phone directory and hoped that there were emergency numbers stored so she could dial it immediately. Rachel held the phone tightly; when she saw the name Police she dialed it immediately, when the operator answered and said _**"**__**177 ce qui est votre urgence?"**_

Rachel couldn't have felt more thankful that she decided to take French class for her elective, she was not fluent but at least she could carry a conversation smoothly.

"_**Nous avons été enlevés certains sommes vers le bas nous avons besoin d'infirmier ici ou bien ils ne lui feront pas une fois, svp nous aident"**_ _**(We were abducted some people are down we need paramedic here or else they will not make it one time, please help us)**_Rachel said, but suddenly cursed herself for talking incoherently.

"_**Le ralentissement de miel, m'indiquent ce qui continue exactement"**_ _**(Honey slow down, tell me what is exactly going on)**_the operator tried to buy some time to get the exact location of the caller. They had already received the alert status that there were girls who are missing. Every Police Patrol and Paramedic is already out just to make sure that they can make it on time.

"_**Nous n'avons pas assez de temps, nous sommes un trop grand nombre ici. Nous avons été enlevés parce qu'ils sont le membre de l'esclavage blanc**__"_ _(__**We do not have enough time, we are too many here. **__**We were abducted because they are the member of white slavery)**_Rachel said about to panic.

"_**Obtenu le" **__**(got it)**_ the operator said on the other line. They were able to locate the exact location of the safe house.

"**Restez-vous juste où vous êtes et l'équipe de secours sera là, comprenez-vous?"** _**(Just stay where you are and the rescue team will be there, do you understand?)**_Rachel just nodded as if the operator can see her, when she realized that she was on the phone she just said "**Nous ferons ce que vous dites**"_**(We will do what you say)**_ with that Rachel hung up and went back to Monica's and Louella's side.

"You hav—e to leave now" Monica said.

"No, we will not leave you here" it was Louella.

"C'mon, let's carry her down; the paramedics will be here any moment" Rachel felt Monica's hand gripped her tightly.

"No, I can't make it, I can feel it, even if the Paramedics will be here I won't be able to make it anymore" Rachel looked at Louella who's hands are pressing tightly on Monica's wound to suppress the blood from flowing freely. Monica was shot in the abdomen and it looked pretty bad.

Rachel shut her eyes trying to control her emotions. She grabbed Monica's hand and held it tightly; she's had been convincing herself that everything would be alright.

"I was dreaming of seeing my family for the last time, but I can't see them anymore. My parents, they were against my profession but I love helping people" Monica coughed continuously.

Monica looked at the two girls and smiled weakly; she was happy for a chance to have these two girls as her friends but it's kind of too late now. For the last two weeks the homesickness that she felt from her younger sisters was able to be filled by Louella and Rachel, the only wish that she has was to see her family for the last time. But she knows it will never happen anymore, her time has come. She believed in God and she knew everything happened for a reason.

"Thank you" Monica said calmly.

Louella and Rachel looked at each other then looked at Monica. The duo just eyed Monica when the latter slowly closing her eyes and took her last breath.

In a few seconds Monica was dead. Rachel was trying to compose herself not breakdown as well as Louella.

"We need to leave Rachel" Louella said emotionless while standing up.

Rachel just looked at Louella and went to the nearest room to get something to cover Monica's body. She came back with an orange blanket in her hands. Rachel knew that Louella was just trying to be strong, before she covered Monica's body she knelt down a placed a kiss on Monica's lifeless body.

Rachel and Louella grabbed their respective guns and went downstairs; the girls that they left earlier were still in the same position ready to attack whoever tried to hurt them.

"We have to go now" Louella announced to the terrified girls.

Before they could even open the door, Rachel looked once more at the man that she shot. She felt a shiver all over her body, she would face the consequences later on.

When they opened the door there were handfuls of people already outside. When Rachel saw their jackets she immediately dropped her gun on the floor. She looked at the lady agent and said "they are all up on the second landing." Rachel looked at everyone and every girl looked very terrified. Rachel couldn't think anymore; she just sat on the ground holding her head, trying to grasp the reality that they were safe now.

Everything happened so fast, after they were being driven to Interpol Headquarters they heard that the mastermind of the white slavery was being apprehended. Rachel didn't care anymore what really occurred; what she wanted to do was go home and sleep in her own bed and be with her family. She knew it will take time with all the proceedings; she wanted to call her parents badly but the authorities are not allowing them to call.

It's been three days since they were rescued and due to her persistence they flew back to Austria to gather their things in the hotel, fortunately it was still there. When they were given a clearance to travel back to their hometown, Rachel made sure that Louella would arrive home safely. That's why she decided to travel with her to Sussex but it took a lot of convincing with the FBI who escorted them.

Rachel didn't know want she wanted anymore, after the nerve wracking experience she wasn't sure if she has the ability like she had before. She tried to contemplate but to no avail, she was lost for words. All she wanted to do was to go home and seclude herself in her own refuge.

In about an hour she will be home but she felt nothing. She was grateful that she's still alive but her conscience has been bugging her from the minute she pulled that trigger. Though all the people that were trying to help her said it wasn't her fault it was self defense, but still she had the choice not to pull the trigger and she still did. Rachel was trying hard to live her life on the righteous path. She's a good kid, she never hurt anyone intentionally, law abiding citizen, she paid respect to those people who deserved it but it was all gone because she pulled that trigger.

She snapped back to her reality when Agent Duval called her name; Agent Duval was her silent confidante, the agent never forced her to talk which is why she's very much grateful. She let her cry freely every time and held her until she was able to compose herself.

"Rachel."

Rachel looked at the owner of the voice.

"We are here; do you want us to come with you?" Agent Duval asked.

"No, I'll be fine" Rachel smiled sadly.

Rachel opened the door of the SUV but before she got out she said "will you be the one to go to Monica's family and tell them?" When the authority arrived at the crime scene they heard someone said Agent Wilde, it was Monica's last name. Monica was an undercover agent, now she understood perfectly.

"The other agent will do that" Agent Duval said.

Rachel climbed out of the vehicle when she heard her name being called again. She looked at the two agents and waited on what they were going to say.

"Can you call us, when you are ready?" Alistair asked hopefully.

Rachel looked intently at the two and just nodded silently.

Agent Duval looked at Rachel while the younger girl was about to enter her home. For the last 5 years that she's been doing her job, Alyssa has already met many different kinds of persons but Rachel and Louella are different. She just hoped and prayed that the two girls and everyone who survived will moved on and not be traumatized.

_**Present Time**_

Rachel was exhausted after sharing the whole story with her loved ones, she couldn't focus anymore. Rachel felt her body was beginning to collapse with all the heavy emotions she's been keeping inside for weeks, she just can't pretend anymore. She collapsed into Quinn's embrace and cried her heart out; she felt Quinn's body harden against her and the blonde was already sobbing.

Quinn didn't know what to say. She was very grateful that Rachel was able to survive this incident but she had this strange feeling that Rachel would never be the same again. She just continued to hold her girlfriend, for now that's the only thing she could do.

Lucas and Matthew were already crying too, they couldn't imagine that their baby girl had that kind of experience. If they had not allowed their girl to leave the states none of this would have happened but they knew what was written can't be changed anymore. They will let Rachel decide if she wanted to go back to Switzerland or not. Whatever the decision that their daughter will decide will be okay for them what ever it is. The couple looked at Rachel and Quinn and felt the strong bond that the two had for one another, and they knew instantly that Rachel would get through this rough time because Quinn was at their daughter's side.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Rachel called Louella and told her the original plan to travel to Indonesia to meet Monica's family will not push thru anymore because she doesn't want her parents and Quinn to worry about her.

Rachel was playing with Bella when she heard footsteps ascending towards them. She looked up and saw Quinn smiling at them.

Quinn sat down besides Rachel and placed a soft kiss on the brunette lips.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine; do you need help downstairs?"

"It's okay, just play with Bella. Breakfast will be served a little later."

"Oh, okay."

Quinn saw the sad look in her girlfriend's eyes and began to worry.

"What is it?" 

"Nothing." Rachel looked at Quinn with sad eyes.

"Rach, you know you can tell me anything right?" Quinn said while caressing the brunette's face.

"I know, it's just that I don't have gifts for you guys, Louella and I were planning to go shopping in Vienna before the incident."

"Rachel, look at me" Quinn commanded.

"You don't need to give us gifts. Rach, you're here, that is more than enough for us" Quinn said reassuringly.

Rachel just nodded and continued to play with Bella. Quinn stood up but before she exited the nursery she looked one more time at Rachel and felt sad that the abrasive, bubbly and bossy girl was long gone. Quinn made a promise that she will make sure that Rachel will be back to her old self again.

Days passed by until it was almost New Years. Rachel was getting better as she had been telling stories and arguing with everyone with regards to the movies or food. Her two dads and Quinn couldn't have felt happier on Rachel's progress; it was a big leap forward when Rachel decided to write her whole statement in regards to the incident. When Rachel was ready to talk, Lucas called Agent Duval to get his daughter's statement.

"It's done" Rachel said.

"Yeah."

Rachel looked at Quinn and the blonde turned her head to meet the brunette's gaze. They were in Rachel's room killing their spare time before New Years Eve.

"Rach?"

"Yes?"

"I've been meaning to ask you this, are you going back to Switzerland?"

Rachel looked at Quinn and kissed the blonde on the cheek.

"I have to."

Rachel lay down on her bed and looked at the ceiling of her room where contrary to other's belief there was not a single gold star on her ceiling. It had paintings of different Disney Princesses that she grew to watching. Rachel took a deep breath and turned to look at Quinn again, who looked kind of sad.

"Don't be sad, one and half years then I'll be back in the states for good. I just transferred Quinn, I don't want to go back here again" Rachel said.

"I know, but I'm just worried about you."

"Don't be, I will try not to go on any side trips anymore and that's only happened once, Europe has many beautiful countries Quinn."

"I know that."

"I have an idea. Why don't you guys visit me there? Once a month let's say. My parents will definitely agree to it" Rachel was beaming while proposing the idea.

Quinn saw that Rachel's eyes were glowing and she wanted to see that kind of glow for a long time. If visiting Rachel will help the latter to fully recover whatever it takes she'll take her chances.

"Okay then, let's discuss this with your parents, because you know the air fare is not that cheap" She said.

Quinn wasn't prepared on what happened next, Rachel straddled her and pulled her into an open mouthed kiss. After a few minutes they separated and Rachel collapsed at her side giggling while playing with her hair. The happiness that Quinn saw in Rachel eyes were contagious as she couldn't help but to succumb.

"You make me very happy, Quinn" Rachel placed a chaste kiss on Quinn's lips.

"But we need to discuss this thing with your fathers first" Quinn said worriedly.

"Yes we do, but if you are worrying about the air fares don't, I don't care if I spend my whole account for Bella and you. My grandparents left me with tons of it, I don't even know how much. I just know that if I decide not to work, I can still live comfortably. But well it will never happen, I need to work because I have to feed both of you" Rachel exclaimed.

"Rachel, is that your subtle way of proposing?" Quinn asked cynically.

"Nope, we are still young Quinn; we will take one step at a time. I don't want to pressure you, let's just enjoy what we have right now" Rachel winked at Quinn.

"Rachel Berry, you're very smooth do you know that?" Quinn asked playfully.

"I'm aware yes." Rachel reclaimed Quinn lips into a very heated kiss, Quinn moaned unconsciously; she was so lost in the kiss and Rachel is a very good kisser. To her dismay Rachel stopped and said "But I am a conventional girl, Quinn." Rachel stood up and left her wanting more.

Quinn couldn't believe that she was very turned on; she touched her lips and said to herself "I will never get used to kissing you Rachel Berry." With that Quinn tried to device a plan to get even with the brunette.

It was already New Year's Eve, the Berry's, Bella and Quinn were outside watching the fireworks. Lucas' arm was protectively place in Matthew's while Rachel carried Bella and Quinn's hands were around Rachel's waist.

After an hour watching the pyrotechnic exhibition the foursome went back inside to discuss things.

"Quinn, Rachel told us about her proposition" Lucas started.

Quinn looked at Lucas hesitantly.

"And we know that you want to go, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"So it's settled then. Every last week of each month you will go to Switzerland over the weekend. When Bella is safe to travel she'll go with you but for the meantime we will take care of her while you meet with Rachel" Matthew excitedly said. If Quinn can help their daughter to fully recover whatever it takes they will allow it.

Quinn looked flabbergasted at the three Berry's. She looked at Lucas and Matthew who were beaming like newlyweds while Rachel had a mischievous grin playing across her lips.

"That's fast!"

"Well, Rachel will be gone in a week so we need to decide right away."

"But, wha—t about…"

"Don't worry about anything Quinn, okay? If you can make our daughter happy then whatever it takes we'll all for it" Lucas said with finality.

"Okay, but I can't stay at her dorm right?"

"Oh, you could stay, I'll talk to the school to let you stay and Louella is my roommate, that's not going to be a problem for her" Rachel said excitedly.

'Okay, it seems that you already decided, okay then" Quinn said, resigned.

Rachel pulled Quinn into a bone crushing hug and said "you made me very happy, and I can't wait to tell Louella."

It had been almost a year after their arrangement was settled that surprisingly worked to everyone's advantage, every end of each month Quinn traveled to visit her girlfriend at first it was crazy, Quinn met Rachel's friend from school and she found out that everyone was as crazy as Rachel. Louella is like a Britain version of Rachel and Santana in one. Rachel and Quinn's relationship grew stronger each day, they still argued over a few things but they make sure that they reconciled before the end of each day.

"Quinn, I told you not to do that" Rachel said irately over the phone. Quinn had just arrived at their home and prior to their conversation when Quinn visited her last week; Quinn said she would make over Rachel's closet.

"Rachel, we need to throw away this hideous clothing of yours" Quinn said with the same tone.

"I love that argyle" Rachel complained.

"Honey, you can't wear this anymore okay, just let me do this so when you come back for your summer vacation it will be perfect."

"Oh geez, why did I let my father convince me to give you the authority to change my stuff?" it was more of a question to herself.

"Because you love me Berry."

"Yeah, right. Quinn, just don't throw them away, at least give them to charity" Rachel plead.

Quinn paused for a while and said "Okay, I'll give it to charity."

"I need to go now; we have a practice in 10."

"Okay, send my regards to everyone."

"Okay, I love you!"

"I love you too baby!"

Quinn hung up and focused her full attention on her project.

Quinn continued to rummage through her girlfriend's closet. There were five built in cabinets in Rachel's closet. The first one catered to her bags, the second was for her shoes, the third was for her trousers, skirts and denim jeans, the fourth was for her blouses and tops and all Rachel's undergarments neatly arranged by brand. Rachel was extremely organized Quinn thought. She opened the Fifth closet; it was the biggest one, she was astounded on what she saw. Her girlfriend had a bunch of fashionable clothes but never wore any of those in school. But in Switzerland she didn't wear any hideous wardrobe like she wore at McKinley.

Quinn didn't notice that Matthew was at her back.

"Rachel doesn't like going by the trends" Quinn startled when she heard Matthew's voice.

"But she has all of these" Quinn motioned to the wardrobe.

"Yes, most of them she bought online and her cousin always sends her the newest and coolest item in New York's Fashion week." Quinn just nodded.

"How come she doesn't wear any of these?" Quinn asked, still bedazzled.

Matthew just smiled and sat on the couch while motioning Quinn to sit beside him.

"Oh, she wears those dresses outside school; she only wears the skirt and argyle, which she's very much fond off, in school."

"But why? She knows everyone in Glee makes fun of her wearing that hideous attire." Matthew chuckled.

"Because she always wants to done things beyond the norm. My daughter is a very good actor Quinn. She pretends that she's obnoxious and narcissistic in front of the school and wears those sweaters and skirts because she said "Dad, I'll show them my worst. If I win a friend with my worst attitude and being unfashionable that means those people can accept everything about me without treating me like a laughing stock" her words not mine" Matthew said while giggling.

Quinn was dumbfounded upon hearing those words. Rachel just showed them her worst attitude but they never saw that. She felt her heart sink not knowing that was her girlfriend's intention but well it's in the past now and she was crazy in love with the brunette.

"Quinn, don't feel bad, my daughter loves you and your daughter with all her heart." Matthew placed a soft kiss on Quinn's forehead and left the blonde to her project. It was a weekend; Bella was with Puck so she had all day to finish everything, but before she continued she took her phone and send a text message to Rachel.

"Ouch" Rachel hissed upon stumbling down because her shoe lace was untied.

Louella just looked at her friend giggling "Berry, getting clumsy are we?"

Rachel just gave Louella a death glare and stood up to grab a bottle of water. They'd been practicing for about 30 minutes when Louella called a 5 minute break and ran towards the bleachers to get some water. She sat near her bag and grabbed her towel to wipe her face which was dripping with her own sweat. Rachel heard her cell phone buzzing; it was a message from Quinn.

"_Hey sweetie, I know you're in practice and alert and in no acute distress. I spoke to your dad and he told me something about your wardrobe. Why didn't you tell me? Anyhow I get it now. I love you, don't bother to reply. I'll talk to you tonight"_

Rachel smiled at the message; now that her father had shared the story to her girlfriend she missed Quinn even more. Two more months she would be home for the summer and it was decided that Quinn will no longer have to travel every last week to meet her. Rachel felt that she would be totally recovered in two months and besides the whole security of the school had gotten tighter because of what had happened to them. Apparently they were not the only students who experienced the tragedy; there were handfuls of students who were abducted, some of them went back but most of them transferred to what they said where within their comfort zone.

As for Rachel, she knew everything happens for a reasons, and she couldn't been happier and contented on her life right now, she has gorgeous girlfriend who loves her dearly and very adorable daughter that she love so much and of course her fathers whose been her rock all those times.

Rachel looked at the field when Louella called for everyone to resume their practice; she took her gloves and lacrosse stick. The brunette felt like she was exactly where she belonged. She missed her team mates in Glee even though they'd been awful to her but well it's all in the past now, there wass no need to feel bad about it.

School year was over and she was going back to the States to spend her summer vacation with her love ones and to her surprise Louella was coming home with her. Her family had met Louella already and they adored the English girl. She had no problem with it, and besides that Louella had not met Bella yet. Rachel did not inform her family that she was going home one week earlier because she wanted it to be a surprise. Quinn still had one week of school before her summer vacation started so it would be perfect timing and Rachel planned to surprise her girlfriend.

"So this is Lima Ohio" Louella asked while carrying their luggage to the back of the SUV that Rachel had rented.

"Yes it is" Rachel said proudly. "We have to call my dads first and see if they are home; you know it's only 2 pm and I just want to make sure they are not there." Louella just nodded while Rachel took out her phone and dialed Matthew's number.

"Hey baby girl; excited to come home?" her father answered.

"Hey Dad, you have no idea" Rachel said while giggling.

"Why are you calling anyway, it's only Thursday."

"I know. Listen dad, are you at home?"

"Yeah, the nanny wasn't able to make it that's why I took the day off to take care of Bella. Quinn can't miss school today, it's almost the end of the school year" Matthew explained to her daughter.

"Ok dad, I'll see you soon. I love you."

"Ok honey, I'll see you soon."

Rachel looked at Louella while the latter was smiling mischievously.

"Way to go Berry, so where to?" Louella asked.

"We're surprising my girlfriend at her school"

"You mean your former school?"

"Yep."

"You're bloody aware that you will be seeing you former team mates' right?"

"I gather, yes. Is there any problem with that?" Rachel looked confused.

"I just want to make sure that you're not going amazonian on them and besides I would like to meet them anyway" Louella said teasingly.

"Ell, you're such a good friend but sometimes you're infuriating" Rachel said while laughing.

"I know so, thank you for affirming it" Louella said confidently.

After an hour passed Rachel saw the school she once tried to build her future with. Unconsciously she drove to her favorite parking space and found Quinn's car there; she pulled over into the spare parking space next to it instead.

"So this is the famous William McKinley High School" Louella said while getting outside the car and looking at the whole vicinity.

"Yes it is, it's only 3:30 the students are still in their classes, we need to go to the music room."

The duo walked directly to the school main entrance; there were some students in the hallway, Rachel felt nothing had changed even after a year that she had been gone.

Louella merely looked at everyone who stared at them, some people recognized Rachel but the shorter brunette just ignored them. Louella was a stunner; Quinn says she is the English version of Rachel Berry and a certain Santana Lopez molded into one persona. She's stood about 5'7" with a very athletic body, that's what she liked about Berry, her BFF had a very restricted diet and she was able to follow it. Her eyes changed color due to her surroundings but the original color is dark grey and she had long wavy brown hair like Rachel.

Rachel stopped just outside a slightly open door which said "Music Room". She looked at Louella and her friend gave her a encouraging look. Rachel took a deep breath and knocked on the door for warning that someone would enter. The duo slowly walked forward and 12 pair of eyes looked at them in awe.

Everyone in Glee was super excited for the upcoming Regionals in less than a week they will facing the top notch show choir in Regional and they didn't want to experience what happened previously. Quinn was more excited thinking about Rachel coming home and even if they win or lose at Regionals it really didn't matter to her. Mr. Schuester was discussing the schedule of their practices when they heard a knock on the door. Everyone eyes were glued to the door waiting for someone to come inside and to their surprise it was Rachel Berry and her best friend, Louella McDermott. Everyone in Glee knew about her living arrangement with the Berry's but they didn't know that Rachel Berry was her girlfriend.

Rachel stopped besides William Schuester as did Louella, whose eyes were pretty much glued on Santana since they came in. Rachel looked at Quinn and smiled sweetly and before she knew it Quinn was running towards her and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. When Rachel pulled out from the embrace Quinn claimed her girlfriend's lips with intense passion after two months of not seeing each other. They pulled apart upon hearing the ahs and oohs of the Glee Clubbers. Quinn looked at Louella who had pretty much enjoyed everything.

"Mr. Schuester" Rachel acknowledge her former Director and teacher while not letting go of Quinn's hand.

"Rachel Berry, what are you doing in here, you supposed to be in school right?" William asked his former student trying to ignore that fact that she and Quinn had just made out in front of him.

"We went home early, there's nothing much to do in school as we're just incoming juniors, and we didn't need to stay there a long time though" Rachel smiled at Mr. Schue and look at everyone else "Hey guys."

The rest of the Glee Clubbers looked at Rachel in surprise after a year of not seeing the brunette; she looked totally different of course aside from kissing the former HBIC of school. They started gathering around Rachel and Rachel was being Rachel trying to accommodate everyone. Quinn felt her life was complete, seeing her lover patching things up with her team mate was such a nice thing to see.

Quinn looked at Louella who was now sitting comfortably in one of the chairs.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself."

"You looked radiant."

"Blimey, you look good yourself" Louella looked at Quinn intently and said "Were you surprised?"

Quinn just nodded before she put it into words while she looked at Rachel adoringly who was talking animatedly with the other Glee Clubbers.

"You just don't how surprised I was" Quinn said while beaming.

Meanwhile all through out the whole reunion Santana Lopez just couldn't help but stare at Berry's friend; after saying hi to Berry she went back to her former location and watched every move of the taller brunette. She never had an interest anymore with any other girl since Brittany fell in love in Mike Chang, and she accepted it. But now seeing the new girl she felt something strange; she wanted to meet this girl, but how? She's not even friends with Berry for that matter.

Louella knew she was being watched and she knew exactly who was watching her. She tried to play it cool but she couldn't deny the initial attraction that she felt towards the Latina. She knows what the Latina's story and preferred gender was. It would be very easy; if she wants the girl all she needs to do is talk to Quinn.

Rachel felt great while talking to her former team mates; when everyone was settled she introduced her friend to the entire glee club.

"Guys, I would like you to meet Louella McDermott and she's my best friend in school. She's from Sussex in England and she will be staying with us the whole summer" Rachel said proudly.

"Nice to meet you everyone at last in the flesh. I've heard a lot of things about you guys, no worries everything is nice. Berry doesn't like speaking ill to other people behind their backs" Louella said with her heavy British accent. Everyone was smiling shyly and she said "hopefully we can hang out sometimes so I can get to know you guys more, I want to know all your dirty little secrets" the last statement was particularly directed to Santana Lopez, This will be a fun summer after all.

"I hate you!" Quinn said playfully to Rachel while they were walking towards the parking lot.

Rachel looked at Quinn and said "I just want you to be surprised, is that a bad thing?" Rachel was about to laugh seeing the expression of her girlfriend.

"Nope, it's not a bad thing, I just missed you so much and now you're here and we have Regionals, how will I be able to focus if you are here?" Quinn said.

Louella and Rachel looked at each other and laughed their hearts out. Rachel stopped laughing and stopped in front of the blonde.

"Hey listen, you can focus, I won't bother you. Not unless you want to be bothered?"

"Rach, you're not helping!"

"Hey you two, lets discuss these things later on okay" Louella interjected.

Rachel and Quinn nodded in unison.


End file.
